High Stakes, Desperate Measures
by Kristen999
Summary: The team struggles to locate Steve when he disappears, throwing them into a world of espionage. Not only do they have to race against a ticking clock, but they must enlist the help of a known enemy, and team-up with an agent of the NSA whom they may not be able to trust.
1. Chapter 1

Title: High Stakes, Desperate Measures

Type: Gen

Rating: R for language

Word Count: 36k

Characters/Pairings: Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Steve McGarrett, Catherine Rollins, Adam Noshimuri, OCs

Warnings/Spoilers: Set a few weeks after 2.15.

Summary: The team struggles to locate Steve when he disappears, throwing them into a world of espionage. Not only do they have to race against a ticking clock, but they must enlist the help of a known enemy, and team-up with an agent of the NSA whom they may not be able to trust.

Author's Notes: Thank you to my betas mischief5 and verasteine for all their support and hard work. This was a monster story and they gave me invaluable advice and love. Also huge thanks to my first readers perspi, tridge tand powrhug for their encouragement and suggestions.

Written for the casestory big bang.

* * *

_**Thursday 2:12 pm**_

The calendar mocked Danny with its decreasing number of boxes leading to Grace's big day. He traced her drawing of a birthday cake in pink highlighter with his finger. Wrapping a hand around his mug of coffee, he was considering Googling party ideas when he heard a set of knuckles rap against his door.

His head shot up as Steve strolled inside without invitation. "I didn't say you could come in."

Steve hooked a thumb at the door. "I knocked."

"Yeah, but I didn't say you could enter."

Steve smirked, ignoring him, and planted a hip on the edge of his desk.

"You are fully aware that I'm allowed a lunch break to rest and let my brain recharge?" Danny sighed in exasperation. "Not that you would know the meaning of such a thing."

Steve raised an eyebrow, glancing around Danny's desk. "You're not eating anything."

"Not yet. I ordered from _Baylee's_. They deliver now."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

Steve crossed his arms. "And you didn't inform the rest of the team?"

"No, no, I didn't, because I thought of it on the spur of the moment. Kind of like when you use a grenade as a lock-pick."

"I take it this little break doesn't have anything to do with our current case?"

"Yes, because outside my current thirteen-hour day, I have things not involving money laundering and members of the Tong to worry about." Danny sipped his coffee, eyes narrowing at his partner's black tee. "Weren't you wearing a blue shirt this morning?"

"I went for a run to clear my head."

"Of course, because physical exercise is your idea of a lunch break. If we had a shower installed, I have no doubt you'd bring a bedroll and sleep here."

Steve got that faraway look as if contemplating the ludicrous idea and Danny wagged his finger at him. "Don't. Just forget I said anything."

Shrugging, Steve snatched a pencil from Danny's desk and started twirling it. "Why are you moping?"

"Would you leave my stuff alone? You're like a child." Danny snagged the pencil back. "Grace's birthday is next week. She's turning eleven and I want it to be special."

Danny bit his lip; the pain of almost losing Grace to his ex-partner's revenge was still too painful. But this wasn't the time to have a discussion on how a spectacular birthday party for Grace wasn't going to erase the trauma of almost having her ripped away from him. The only person allowed to crawl inside his head was the HPD shrink — not his partner, who probably needed to be in permanent therapy.

"I was thinking of a themed party," Danny continued talking like he'd never paused. "You know something like Sponge Bob or Adventure Time."

Steve's clueless expression was comical.

"They're called cartoons," Danny explained.

"I guessed that, thanks."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Well, Rachel and Stan's idea of a party involves clowns and pony rides, as in real ponies."

"I never liked clowns as a kid."

"Clowns, and oh my God, mimes. Creepy as hell. Rachel thinks they're funny and all I can think of are possible serial killers, so no on the clowns. I just want something small and fun." Danny stared at his coffee and realized he'd already drank most of it. "But I know you didn't come in here to listen to me lament about birthday stuff."

"I don't mind talking about Gracie's birthday," Steve said with genuine fondness. "But I...um," he cleared this throat, "kinda need last week's paperwork."

"Excuse me?" Danny snorted, unamused. "Would that be the paperwork you said you'd do because I was too busy covering your ass when you were at the meeting with the Assistant DA? That paperwork, Steven?"

"Yeah, about that. See, I didn't get a chance to get around to it and Denning's been on me about this month's budget and there was that incident report last week regarding my temporary acquisition of a city garbage truck." Steve stood and gestured at the door. "We also need to meet with Kamekona tomorrow, see if he's heard anything from his sources. And...about those reports...I really need them by the end of day, so..."

"Get out!" Danny yelled.

Steve had the audacity to grin. "Thanks," he said, making a hasty retreat.

Danny looked for something to throw at him. They were at the apex of a long, two-month investigation into a major money laundering operation. Governor Denning's assistant would call soon requesting a midday update — not to be confused with the early morning or late afternoon update. But of course, Steve found a way to dump him with extra work despite all them running thin.

He stared at his nearly empty mug, forcing himself to find a fresh cup, his brain caught between their pending case and the need to make his Monkey's birthday a special event minus the spectacle of a three-ring circus.

He was so engrossed with party planning that he almost collided with Kono as she dashed out of her office with a file. "Sorry, brah, got to head down to the lab."

"No problem. Maybe we should install a yellow light or something," Danny laughed. "But before you go, did you talk to your friend?"

Kono scrunched up her face, realization slowly dawning on her. "Oh, you mean Kalie? Yeah, I spoke to her. If you want to hold a private party at Crazy Hook, you could do it on a Sunday after it closes. It's double the fee and the staff would expect good tips, but it wouldn't be a problem."

"Yes!" Danny pumped the air with an enthusiastic fist. "Thank you, thank you. I'll run it by Rachel and see what she says."

Kono chuckled. "Is Grace in a pirate phase?"

"You have no idea. All those Nickelodeon shows I could tolerate, but this I blame on Keira Knightley."

"Nah, it's all Johnny Depp's fault." Kono winked, waving good-bye.

Danny poured himself another cup of joe. Crazy Hook was a pirate reenactment dinner theater and booking it privately would really put a sparkle in Grace's eyes. Smiling to himself, he dumped sugar and cream into his coffee, spinning when someone snapped their fingers at him.

A man in his late forties dressed in a khaki Navy uniform, his breast pocket adorned with more ribbons than Steve's, waited in obvious impatience for Danny to address him.

Danny repressed the urge to urge to snap his fingers in return. "Can I help you?"

"Commander Tillman to see Lt. Commander McGarrett. His office, please."

Danny grit his teeth at the haughty attitude. "Sure, if you could tell me what this is about?"

"Sorry. This is a military matter," Tillman said dismissively.

"Concerning a case?" Danny asked, perturbed.

Tillman adjusted the cap under his arm, steel colored eyes peering down at Danny like he was an annoying errand boy. "Concerning things above your pay grade."

Danny's blood pressure doubled, a diatribe on the tip of his tongue, but he kept a lid on his temper, and yeah, Steve owed him for that. "Second office on the left. Can't miss all the paintings of ships on the walls."

Tillman gave a curt nod. "Thanks."

Danny followed a few steps behind and watched Tillman enter and close the office door. Steve glanced up, face going from surprise to shock, and he immediately sprang to his feet. Danny couldn't hear a thing, torn between eavesdropping or waltzing in to demand to know what was going on. Whatever Tillman had to say was obviously bad news based on the scowl across Steve's face.

Steve's eyes darted to Danny's through the window and Tillman quickly went over and closed the blinds.

Danny's natural curiosity was offended by the military's need to know policy, but it was the fact that some prick was with his partner, involving Steve in God knew what, that really aggravated him. Danny started toward the door when it suddenly flew open and Steve marched out with Tillman in tow.

"Hey, what's going on?" Danny demanded.

"I've been reactivated for a temporary assignment," Steve said succinctly. "I should be back soon."

What the hell?

"Activated? Hold up. Didn't you just do your training already...on the battleship?"

Steve bristled. "That was my AT. This is something different."

Danny had never seen the vein in Steve's temple throb like that before. "Different as in running off to lead a strike force different?"

"Different as in classified," Tillman barked, moving to wedge himself between Steve and Danny. "The commander and I are on a short clock, so if you don't mind?"

Danny had blocked their path without realizing it. "What about the case?"

"You guys can handle it without me." Steve pushed briskly by Danny, Tillman shadowing him. Then Steve stopped abruptly and turned his head, giving Danny a hard glare. "Tell Grace I'll be back in time for her party. And my vote is on a circus theme. Get three hundred clowns. No, three hundred and twenty-five."

"Ha, ha, funny," Danny grumbled at Steve's odd juvenile sense of humor. Then he sobered. "You know, the last time you snuck off to do something heroic, bad things happened."

Korea had been a couple of months ago, but the scars were still too fresh for Danny.

Steve swallowed, his voice low. "I've got to do this thing so bad stuff doesn't happen."

"Commander," Tillman practically breathed down Steve's neck. "We need to go."

Squaring his shoulders, Steve followed Tillman out, leaving Danny standing there, stunned. What the hell just happened? He checked his watch and cursed. He still had to update Governor Denning when he called and now they were a man down with no idea when Steve would return.

_**69hrs:31mins remaining**_

Danny shuffled around the obscenely neat stacks of files on Steve's desk for his notes on the money laundering case and finally uncovered his flash drive. "Yes!"

"Hey." Chin popped his head into the office. "I've got Denning's assistant on the horn and she wants an update."

"Tell her I'll call her back. Steve was supposed to use his report thingy to determine where we should look for the money trail, but of course he never communicated that pertinent piece of info before he skipped town."

He closed the door and went over to the big plasma, inserting the flash drive to study Steve's graph. "What the hell is this?"

Kono wandered over and whistled at all the multicolored lines of data and equations. "Those look like co-factors and probability rates."

Danny squinted at the screen. "They're what?"

Chin finished his call and joined them. "They're algorithms. I think those blue equations are circuits for predicting outputs of code."

Danny waved his hand between them. "In English, please?"

Chin chuckled with a huge grin. "These graphs show patterns that predict money transfers based on previous places the Tong have used to hide their assets. It's pretty sophisticated stuff."

Danny's eyes almost glossed over. "He's _guessing_ where to locate the money?"

"His analysis has been pretty accurate thus far," Chin reminded him. "It's a model he adapted from his days in Naval Intelligence."

A long, heavy silence settled over them until Kono carefully broke it.

"Did McGarrett say how long he'd be deployed?"

"No, but he said he'd be back in time for Grace's birthday."

Kono stared at Danny like he'd grown two heads. "Her birthday's next Saturday. Why would they call him up for less than a week?"

"How would I know? The general guy came in, gave Steve his marching orders, and that was that."

There had always been a chance that Steve would get tapped for some secret mission despite how slim the odds. Steve had warned them during the first week the team had worked together. It was just – God, why right now? After the last few months of emotional shit, couldn't they all have some time to lick and heal their wounds?

Sighing, Danny scanned the plasma screen. "All right. Let's see if we can make heads or tails of this before the governor comes down here personally to grill us."

_**65hrs:5mins remaining**_

The sun was a blob of red and orange just above the horizon by the time everyone called it a day. Danny walked outside, relishing the warm breeze. His stomach rumbled loudly and Chin gave him an amused grin as they crossed the parking lot.

"Don't start," Danny snapped. "I'm sure you'll go home and cook something from scratch, maybe even have a nice glass of wine, while I'll nuke a pot roast because I've been too busy to grocery shop."

"You should have let Kono grab you something in exchange for letting her leave an hour early."

"She's been talking about going to that beach art gallery opening for weeks."

"I'm sure Steve's place is stocked." Danny frowned at him in confusion and Chin smirked. "Aren't you going to house sit while he's away?"

Danny stopped and rubbed both hands over his face. He had a key to McGarrett's house for emergencies. "Yeah, yeah. I'll drop by there tomorrow night after work."

Chin's face lit up mischievously as he spotted a familiar black truck. "Looks like you might have to pick up McGarrett when he returns."

"Um, no." Danny rolled his eyes. "If he got a ride there, he can get a ride back."

_**52hrs:41mins remaining**_

The next afternoon, he waited with Kono in a line that wrapped around a pink truck, dozens of tourists from a surfing competition crowding around them. The sun was directly overhead, baking Danny in his white dress shirt.

"You okay? You look kind of flushed," Kono teased.

Danny glared at her, hating the fact that, despite the ungodly humidity, she appeared cool and comfortable in her yellow tank top and jeans. "Oh, I'm spectacular. There's only like thousands of tourists jam-packing all the nearby restaurants, so our resident shrimp truck is catching the run-off."

"Told you it'd be crazy. The exhibit was part of a big kickoff for this event. The weekend is going to be off the hook," Kono said, glued to her cell phone.

Danny muttered a curse under his breath. "Do you have the time?"

"Seriously, brah. You need to buy a watch." But Kono took mercy on him. "It's two-thirty. Why? You got somewhere to be?" she asked without looking up from texting.

"I told Rachel that I'd try to meet her and Stan at six to discuss Grace's birthday." Kono quirked her lips and Danny sighed. "What? They're not down with the whole pirate thing and I'm sure as hell not going to deal with a miniature Barnum and Bailey's and a tent filled with freaks."

Kono finally pried herself from her cell phone and glanced at him. "You have odd views regarding the circus."

"People run away to join a circus for a reason," he told her.

The cell phone caught her attention again. _Click, click, click._

He couldn't take it any longer. "Who are you texting?"

Embarrassed, Kono quickly stuffed her phone inside her jean's pocket. "Nobody."

"Oh, no. That's not nobody," Danny teased. "You've been glued to that thing since we stood in line. You got a new boyfriend or what?"

"Please." Kono turned her back to him, acting suddenly interested in their non-moving line.

"Nope. Can't dodge it now." Danny's smile widened. "You've made it too big of a deal to squirm out of it."

Frowning, Kono didn't look him in the eye when she spoke. "I was reading the news."

"The news? It's like you've been surgically attached to your phone the last half hour. What gives? And don't tell me it's a vested interest in staying current on world events."

Kono's shoulders slumped. "I was looking for international hot spots. You know...places where Special Forces units might be needed."

Danny felt like a schmuck. "Oh." Kono nervously rubbed her hand over her thigh and Danny fist-bumped her shoulder. "McGarrett's fine. He's not going lone wolf somewhere. I bet he has a whole platoon of big bad SEALs backing him up."

Danny knew he needed to work on his pep-talking skills when Kono didn't relax.

"Look. I'm not worried. Do I look worried? No. Because Super SEAL is out doing the thing he's trained for his whole life. Top of his BUDs class, remember?" Kono quirked an eyebrow, seeing right through him, and Danny acted offended. "Please. I watch Discovery. As soon as I learned what my partner used to do for a living, I did some research. Learned a few terms."

That earned him a smile.

Kono pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Guess I'm just being paranoid."

Danny grinned bright and sunny, resisting the urge to ask if she'd run across any breaking news stories.

_**47hrs:21mins remaining**_

If he broke a few traffic laws and took a one-minute shower, then perhaps he'd make it on time to have dinner with Rachel and Stan. Yes, Stan. Danny still couldn't believe it, but how could he not grudgingly like the guy willing to take a bullet for Grace?

Walking inside HQ, he actually shivered as a blast of air conditioning cooled his sweat-drenched skin. Chin glanced up from his hunched position over a workstation and he waved Danny and Kono over.

"I think I might have figured out a pattern in the wire transactions. If things run their normal course, we should see a large deposit on Monday."

"Monday?" Danny clapped his hands. "That's great news."

Chin shook his head, obviously aware of Danny's upcoming plans. "What did you get from the Shave Ice King?"

"Not much. He said there's been an increase in chatter about a new score of black market electronics worth a quarter mil that might coincide with another deposit in the Bank of Rinse and Clean." Danny cupped his chin and considered the complex graph of sprawling data with a smile. "Who would have thought that Mr. Guns and Ammo was such a geek?"

"I'll be sure to let McGarrett know his algorithms had you pining over him," Kono razzed.

Danny's impending tirade was cut short by the sound of footsteps, and he turned around, surprised at their visitor. "Catherine?" He took in her blue camo uniform and the tired droop of her shoulders. "What brings you here?"

Catherine shrugged. "I came here looking for Steve. This is the first day of my seven-day leave. We have reservations at Azure's."

Kono whistled. "Sweet."

"Yeah, and pricy. Azure's has a two month waiting list," Chin added, impressed.

"All very true, except for the fact that Steve's not here," Danny said.

"When will he be back?" Catherine asked, annoyed. "Because he owes me for the eighty dollar cab ride from Pearl."

God really hated him, because of course Danny would have to be the bearer of Steve's bad news. "Steve's been, you know...called up."

"Called up?" Catherine echoed.

"Deployed?" Danny ventured.

Catherine pinched the bridge her nose. "What do you mean _deployed?_"

"You know...Back to duty." Danny grimaced. "Some Navy guy dropped by yesterday. Steve told me he'd been given an assignment but he'd return soon."

Catherine slid a black, nylon bag off her shoulder and onto the floor. "That doesn't make sense."

Danny's gut churned. "Why not?"

"We have a prearranged code he sends me if he's activated." Catherine no longer sounded annoyed, but worried. "I never got a message."

"Steve was in a real hurry; maybe he didn't have time," Danny suggested, but his excuse sounded weak.

"I don't understand." Catherine said. "All re-activations are done over the phone. You get the call and have twenty-four hours to report to the base."

Danny didn't want to hear this. No. This was paranoia, nothing else, but judging by Chin and Kono's anxious eyes, Danny wasn't alone in his growing worry.

"Maybe it was important," he suggested, trying vainly to keep calm despite his gut instincts. "Some special SEAL thing?"

"Steve's been in the reserves for over a year," Catherine countered. "He would never be recalled for a priority mission, not without months of special training."

Danny held up his hands to ease the growing anxiety in the room. "Steve did leave with the guy, so maybe this is some kind of need to know crap?"

Chin looked directly at Catherine. "Is there any way we can find out?"

"There would be orders," Catherine explained. "I'm not sure who Steve reports to, but his current employer would have to be notified and then it would go down your chain of command."

"That means Governor Denning," Danny uttered. "Great."

"There's only one way to be sure," Chin said and walked a few feet away with his cell.

Danny wanted to follow and listen in because Steve was _not in trouble_. Not after North Korea and Joe White skipping town and Danny almost losing Grace. They were due a break.

"Hey, Catherine, you want some coffee? Maybe sit down for a minute?" Kono asked. Catherine hesitated, her attention laser-lined on Chin's pacing. Kono stepped closer. "You've had a long day. Did you just arrive in port?"

Kono steered Catherine toward her office when Chin mouthed that he was on hold. Obviously exhausted, Catherine reluctantly picked up her duffel and followed Kono's lead.

Danny gnawed at his bottom lip and tried quieting the bubble of panic rising inside. Chin looked over and shook his head about making progress with the governor. Danny wanted answers now. He wanted to get rid of the pit in his stomach and apologize to Rachel for all the times he'd been late while drinking a hard-earned beer.

Most of all, he didn't want to be caught in limbo. When Chin froze mid-pace and closed his eyes, Danny steeled himself for the upcoming onslaught.

_**46hrs:52mins remaining**_

Danny didn't waste time and called Kono and Catherine back over.

Chin finished his call and exhaled heavily. "I just spoke to Governor Denning. His office wasn't notified about an activation for McGarrett."

Danny wanted to hit something. "But Steve didn't use a duress word. He didn't act like he was being coerced!"

"Okay," Chin conceded. "What do we know?"

That Danny let Steve walk right out of the office and into God knew what. No, he didn't have time for guilt. Danny focused on the facts and filled the team on Tillman's arrival.

"The guy was a jackass," he growled. "And Steve...he was agitated. Curt even for him."

"Okay, that's something," Kono encouraged. "Did Steve do or say anything odd? Anything at all?"

"No, he said he'd be back for Grace's birthday and –" Danny snapped his fingers. "He said that I should have a circus theme for Grace's party with three hundred clowns, no three hundred and twenty-five clowns, even though we just talked about how much we hated them. I thought he was just being a jackass."

"Does three hundred and twenty-five mean anything do you?" Chin asked.

Defeated, Danny shook his head. "Nothing."

Chin typed the number onto the screen. "It could be a code, an address, or part of a license plate."

Danny's mind was blank. "I don't know. But if Steve was in trouble, the number means something."

Despite closing in on a nine-hour day, Kono exuded nervous energy, her knee bouncing as she studied the screen. "It could be any combination of numbers. It could take hours just figuring out which ones McGarrett meant. Maybe we should start with something more tangible first? I'm going to check Steve's office for prints."

Danny had a flash of the Navy guy's visit.

"Tillman closed the door; you might get something off the doorknob. He touched the blinds, too."

Kono nodded and went to the supply room where they stored the forensic kits.

"I'll pull up all the security feeds," Chin spoke, moving to another computer station. "Let's see if we can get a face to go with your name. Do you remember anything at all about him?"

"Not much. His face was all hard angles. Kind of ruddy complexion. Square jaw. High cheekbones. Wait. I got a whiff of some sweet smell around him. Like clove cigarettes. Who smokes those?"

"Cloves are illegal – that might be something," Chin offered.

Danny nodded. "I'll write down a list of features while they're still fresh in my head."

It wasn't much. All he could picture was a smug, overconfident asshole. And evil. It was those cold, calculating eyes.

"If you could lend me a computer, I can log into Navy records and search for a Commander Tillman." Chin and Danny looked over at Catherine. She had remained quiet until now. "If Steve is on an op, then Tillman's file will verify that. I know how to read in between the lines. If Tillman is not in the records, then we know–"

"That this wasn't a military matter," Danny finished. He couldn't help smiling at her tenacity.

"What? How many times have I used satellites or traced radio transmissions for you guys?" Catherine reminded him. "It's called efficiency and proper use of available resources."

"Once we find McGarrett, he better take you to that restaurant, because if he doesn't, then I will," Danny told her before getting down to business. "I'm going to try tracking the GPS in Steve's phone."

But the roiling in his gut told him that it would be a dead end, because if Steve McGarrett, Navy SEAL, was in trouble, then Tillman was one cunning SOB.

_**45hrs:42mins remaining**_

One by one, they slowly gathered around what Danny dubbed the magic table. Catherine walked over last, arms crossed in front of her chest like a barrier.

Danny was nauseous with anxiety. "Steve's cell must be off because I can't trace it anywhere." But that didn't mean much without more context and he looked at Catherine to fill in some of the blanks. "What did you find out?"

Her face was a mask of professionalism. "There are five Tillmans in the Navy, but none of them have the rank of commander nor do they match your physical description or age. I used a few of my sources and got red-lined to Steve's CO at Pearl and he insists that Steve was not called up for any assignment or training."

"What about the CIA?" Kono asked. "Could they circumvent things?"

They were clutching at straws.

Catherine shook her head. "The CIA does use SEALs for black-ops and they could cover up the fact that Steve is working for them, but they would call or send an agent, not a fake naval officer to pick Steve up."

"Which leads us back to trying to identify Tillman," Chin concluded.

"I didn't get anything off the knob other than our prints," Kono chimed in. "Same with the blinds. He either wiped them off or was really careful."

"Okay, so no prints." Danny waved his hand at their high-tech equipment. "What about security? Did we get this guy's mug so we can run it through facial recognition?"

Chin grimaced. "He carefully avoided the cameras going through the lobby and security. In the few shots we have, his cap shielded his face."

"Wearing your cap indoors is against military protocol," Catherine muttered.

"He took off his cap when he entered HQ, but he either kept his back to the cameras or kept his face from view." Chin brought up their internal feed. "The best I got was a slight angle of his left side. But it's blurry as hell."

"Can we work with it at all?" Danny asked.

"Maybe, it'll take some time. Right now, let's focus on the outdoor security." Chin's fingers tapped the keyboard. "I want to go back to before Tillman's arrival."

Danny licked his bottom lip in thought. "It was, um...around three thirty? Sometime before?"

"I'll start at three."

Watching parking lot footage was mind numbing. A Ford truck, a BMW, and a Toyota all came and went. With each new vehicle, Danny drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for the asshole to appear on screen. Ten minutes after three, a black SUV parked in the far corner, almost too far for the camera to catch.

A man in a Navy uniform exited the vehicle.

"There he is, but I want to catch something first." Chin backed up the footage and zoomed in on the license plate. "Bingo."

"Tom, George, Union, Adam, 134," Kono said, running the plate number into the database.

Catherine studied the freeze-frame. "The license plate of a Navy motor pool car would start with the letter _N_ and have official state plates."

"This guy is definitely not government or military," Kono said.

"No," Catherine replied, her body tensing like she was ready for a fight.

"Whoever Tillman is, he's good at avoiding surveillance. Even before he entered the building, I couldn't get a decent view of him." Chin brought up another camera angle. "Maybe we can find McGarrett and Tillman exiting."

Danny felt his heart race as Chin fast-forwarded until Steve appeared on the screen with Tillman inches away from him. The two men walked down the steps and into the parking lot. Steve was on full alert, eyes scanning the area for targets.

Tillman didn't have a gun trained on Steve, and even if he did, Steve could have taken him out in a blink of an eye.

No one said a word, all eyes focused on the screen, and Danny could hear everyone breathe.

As Steve reached the black SUV, he suddenly grabbed Tillman by the shoulders and slammed him hard against the door, shoving his Sig Sauer under Tillman's jaw. Steve was raging fire and Tillman cool as ice. Steve's body shook, but he eased up the more Tillman spoke, until Steve lowered his Sig. Danny would have given anything to hear what had been said.

Tillman held the power and he wielded it like a weapon, retrieving Steve's sidearm from his fingers with a toothy smile. Steve stood there simmering, and with a burst of anger, knocked Tillman's cap right off his head. If looks could kill, Tillman would have been a smoking crater.

What the hell kind of leverage did the guy have? It couldn't be about Shelburne; no, Steve's anger was too raw. Was Mary in danger? Steve only got this upset when it came to family.

A dark van pulled up from nowhere, parking behind the SUV. Four large men dressed in all black stepped out and surrounded Steve. It was like watching a brewing storm.

One of the goons roughly grabbed Steve's bicep and Steve threw an angry elbow in response. The other thugs descended on Steve, all five men colliding like atoms. Steve punched back, but it looked more like halfhearted frustration. Then, just as suddenly, Steve ceased moving, his body slumped between two goons like a rag doll, and they quickly dragged him into the back of the van.

Kono took a step back in shock. "What just happened?"

Chin rewound the footage and slowed it down, frame by frame. "There." He paused the fight. "I think the guy behind McGarrett had a syringe. Looks like he injected him in the upper arm right before Steve went unconscious."

Danny watched Steve go down, watched as Tillman stood by and supervised. Danny's mouth twitched as Tillman smiled, satisfied, and picked up his fallen cap.

One of the thugs climbed into the drivers' side of the SUV while Tillman pulled a pack of smokes out of his pants pocket and entered the passenger side. Five seconds later, both vehicles were gone.

Danny kicked his chair almost across the room. "Sonofabitch!"

He paced, fuming.

It took thirty seconds too long to regain control and Danny looked up at the carefully schooled expression on Catherine's face. Her spine was perfectly straight, her shoulders knotted with latent hostility. She was very Steve-like and he wished for some of that Navy training.

Chin rewound the footage. "I've got a clear image of Tillman's face," he said. "We can run facial recognition on it."

Danny stomped over within inches of the plasma and engraved that asshole's square mug to memory. Then he beamed in pride; Steve knocked Tillman's cap off on purpose to help them.

Kono stared at the screen like she couldn't believe what she'd witnessed. "What drug would work that fast?"

"I'll check with Fong and Max. We need to know what they've done to him," Danny said, pacing back and forth.

But he couldn't stop thinking about the footage, watching his partner as he was taken down. He wondered what they were doing to him now, wondered how much time they'd wasted catching one freaking clue. Danny slammed a hand down on the magic table. Worry, frustration, fear – everything slammed into him all at once.

_**44hrs:22mins remaining**_

Kono sent BOLOs on the vehicles while Chin used various traffic cams to follow them. Danny watched as Chin switched cameras each time he lost track of the van and the SUV, tapping into other feeds, and rewinding to the correct time stamps. Heeding all speed limits, the vehicles drove under a bridge before both bumpers disappeared from sight.

Chin cursed.

"What?" Danny demanded.

"They're gone."

"Gone? They were just there!"

"I know, but they never appeared on the Liliuokalani Highway cam."

"Maybe they turned off?" Danny speculated. "Where's the next nearest camera?"

"On Chase Street, a quarter mile west, and there's nothing for three miles east of the bridge," Chin said.

"It doesn't matter," Kono said, breezing over. "I got a hit on the BOLOs. Both vehicles were towed by HPD this morning after being abandoned under the Naniloa Bridge."

Danny felt an impending aneurysm. "They switched vehicles."

"I already informed the lab and they're going over them as we speak." Kono was practically jumping out of her skin to leave. "I thought I'd go over and help."

"Do it," Chin told her.

"Wait!" Danny held up his cell phone. "Text from Max: 'Ketamine. Most likely'. Fuck!"

"Oh, god," Kono breathed.

"Look," Chin said, "If the dose was high enough to knock him out, maybe he won't hit the K-hole."

"No, if he's lucky," Danny spat, "he'll just have hallucinations, nightmares, euphoria, hypertension, rapid heartbeat, blurred vision –"

Kono grabbed his hand. "Danny."

"If this guy'll hit Steve with Special K, what else will he do to him?"

Chin shook his head. "Kono."

"I'm going, I'm going." She gave Danny's hand a squeeze and hurried out the door.

Danny scrubbed a hand over his burning eyes. Focus, he had to focus. "What else do we have?"

"I've got nothing on Tillman's real identity yet, but I've sent his picture to all federal agencies." Chin stared at all the pieces of their puzzle: the traffic cam footage, facial recognition program, and the mysterious number Steve had given Danny. Sighing, Chin slumped in his chair. "We need to make a list of possible suspects."

"You mean a list of people that Steve has pissed off, arrested, or threatened during his tenure at Five-0? Should I get a notebook or empty one of the hard-drives?"

Danny immediately apologized to Chin with a beseeching look.

"This level of sophistication and efficiency costs money," Chin contemplated. "Not to mention access to real pros."

Danny could think of one individual cunning and evil enough to pull off such a feat. "Do you think it could be Wo Fat?"

Anger flickered in Chin's eyes at the man's name. "I don't think so. Wo Fat tends to use his own people when operating on the island – some recruited straight out of the Chinese military – and these guys were all Caucasian."

"Who else has the balls and reach to kidnap a Navy SEAL?"

"Any number of international terrorist groups, foreign agencies, or drug cartels." Catherine walked over, all business. "Steve's been a SEAL and in Naval Intelligence for nearly twelve years and has commanded dozens of operations. That's a lot of bad guys."

"Anyone top the list?" Chin asked.

"I don't know." Catherine studied the freeze-frame of Tillman's arrogant smile. "We didn't talk about his missions, not that he would ever discuss anything classified."

Danny scanned the bullpen and saw only what-ifs. "We should probably search Steve's home. See if anyone paid him a visit or if he was secretly working on something."

"I'll go with you."

Catherine marched into Kono's office before Danny or Chin could say a word. Danny shook his head; she was a real firecracker.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," he told her when she returned carrying her duffel.

"I work in Naval Intelligence." Catherine adjusted the strap over her shoulder. "If Steve was digging into anything, I'll be able to spot the clues."

"She's right," Chin added.

It was more than that; Chin offered them both a reprieve. There were too many balls in the air with too much hang time before they fell back down to Earth. Danny needed to hook his claws into something to investigate, not smack his head against dead ends.

"Fair enough," he told her before turning to Chin. "I'll let you know if we find anything. And if your search rings any bells–"

"I've got you on speed dial," Chin told him.

_**43hrs:16mins remaining**_

Danny drew his weapon and entered the McGarrett home, checking both levels before letting Catherine inside. Holstering his weapon, he led her into the living room.

She dumped her duffel onto the sofa. "Are you always so cavalier?"

"No," Danny huffed, performing a quick survey of the room. "I'm well aware that you're a trained Navy officer. But you're not armed or a cop. Legally, I can't allow you to help clear a building just in case there's trouble and we're forced to engage. And considering who lives here, well..."

"That didn't stop you guys from working with Commander White."

Danny bristled at the man's name. "Not my choice." He wandered toward the coffee table and rifled through Steve's mail, dismissing bills and magazine solicitations. "No packages or letters."

"May I?" Catherine gestured at the stuff in Danny's hands. He handed her the small stack and she studied the envelopes. "Looks like they've all run through the US Postal Service." Opening the bills, she scanned the contents. "These look legit."

"I didn't know you and McGarrett were involved in spy stuff?"

"We're not. Most of my duties involve communications, and Steve, well, he was involved in covert ops, but not the stuff you see in the movies. I just figured if he got mixed up in something classified, a coded message could have been sent to him through the mail." Catherine sat down heavily on the sofa. "To be honest, it was a long shot. But it made me feel–"

"Useful."

She pulled the pins out of her hair and let the layers fall around her face. "Yeah."

The feeling was mutual.

"I get that," he said.

But Catherine obviously wasn't done by a long shot. "Do you know where Steve keeps his laptop?"

Danny handed over Steve's computer from the desk while he surveyed the living room for anything amiss. Everything was as military precise as he remembered it. Books aligned, carpet recently vacuumed – there was even a hint of Pine Sol in the air.

He shifted his attention to Catherine. "Anything?"

"I can't get pass his alphanumeric code. Guess old habits die hard," Catherine sighed. "Maybe one of your guys can extract his hard drive?"

Danny doubted they'd find anything. "Maybe Chin or one of the lab boys. Speaking of...that's my phone."

He answered his cell and listened to Chin's non-update. There'd been no hits on the facial recognition and it would take hours for a CSI team to go over the vehicles.

"Were they stolen?"

_"No, rented. Fake name. Paid for online by a one-time Visa gift card. And it was one of those rental places that allow you to skip the registration desk and pick up the vehicle from the lot_."

"Great."

_"Look, you're already at McGarrett's. Why don't you grab a few hours' sleep and meet us back at HQ? I'll catch a few in the office and Kono said she'd take a nap at the lab. Fong's got a cot. We all need to recharge so we can tackle things in the morning with fresh eyes."_

No, not a chance. Not with Steve in danger, enduring God knew what type of hell, but exhaustion bred mistakes and would get Steve killed.

"Okay. Yeah," Danny muttered and hit end.

Catherine finished a call of her own, seemingly lost in thought.

"Guess this wasn't the getaway you had hoped for?" he asked her.

For the first time all night, Catherine shed some of her tough exterior, cracking a sad smile. "You never know with Steve. But this? Yeah..."

Danny really felt for her. "Must be hard. I mean...always being deployed."

"It works for us. Always has." Catherine slumped into the sofa. "The Navy is my life. The SEALs Steve's. Until recently, of course. Neither of us ever had time for much else. We understand each other; the stuff we can't share doesn't bother us."

Living with secrets could destroy the best relationships.

"My ex-wife could never take living with a cop. Not knowing if I would walk through the door at the end of the night." Catherine looked at Danny with a melancholy fondness. Obviously, she lived and breathed that type of risk daily. He cleared his throat. "Look, why don't you take the upstairs. I'm gonna take a nap here and head out early in the morning."

Danny wandered to storage closet and pulled out an armful of blankets, dumping them on the edge of the first cushion.

Catherine smiled. "Steve and I had a lot of fun times on that sofa."

Danny froze. The look of horror on his face must have been hysterical because it made Catherine laugh.

"That bastard."

Catherine actually giggled before her face went serious. "A friend will pick me up and take me to the base in the morning. I'll see if I can learn anything from my contacts. Maybe, you know, look up anything that might be hard for a civilian to poke around in."

Danny admired her devious nature. "We're gonna find him."

"I know. You guys did before."

"He told you about that, huh?"

Her face fell. "It was hard to hide the evidence." Catherine licked her lips. "Funny. Every time I see him, I discover a new scar. I thought those days were behind him after the SEALs."

Catherine lingered at the bottom step, looking wistful. "He talks about you guys all the time. Steve hides his feelings behind a lot of barriers, but not when it comes to his team. He'd do anything for you."

_**39hrs:36mins remaining**_

Danny brewed a pot of coffee thick enough to caulk the kitchen pipes and dumped it into a thermos. A quick shower and scrambled eggs made him feel slightly human. There was little traffic on the roads at four in the morning and he made it to HQ in less than fifteen minutes.

He found Chin in his office surrounded by two computers and stacks of files. He wore only a white t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. Danny wandered over and filled Chin's empty mug with piping hot coffee.

Looking up with red-rimmed eyes, Chin smiled. "Thanks."

"Have you slept yet?"

"Couple hours." Chin shrugged. "Figured we didn't have time to waste."

Danny leaned against the desk. "Any new leads?"

"Nothing so far. I just talked to Kono; she's on her way back. The forensics team went over the SUV and van with a fine toothed comb, but both vehicles were thoroughly wiped down. There's not a single fingerprint, and based on preliminary findings, Tillman had the insides vacuumed."

Danny felt like they were in the final inning of the World Series with nothing but strikeouts. "All right. Vehicles are a bust and we've gotten bupkis off the surveillance tapes."

"I went over Steve's desk to see if he might have had time to leave any type of clue, but I found nada." Blowing at his coffee, Chin took a long sip and put the mug down. "I rifled through some old cases to see if I could find anyone with enough juice to pull this thing off and narrowed it down to about three or four suspects."

"Let me guess," Danny said, crossing his arms. "The Yakuza are number one on the list?"

"Considering how hard McGarrett went after them this year and the fact that Joe White was accused of murdering Adam Noshimuri's father?" Chin snorted.

"Wasn't Steve supposed to have some type of pact with him?" Chin shot Danny a skeptical look and Danny waved his hands. "Yeah, I didn't trust it much either."

"Then there's the head of the Tong, given our recent investigation into their finances. I also discovered that Steve Ryan, that millionaire we busted for the murder of his wife, has ties to organized crime in New York."

Danny remembered that schmuck; Steve had ruined the guy's reputation in the media and blew up his vintage Porsche.

"But why pose as a Navy guy? Why not grab him at home?"

"I don't know." Chin sounded wrung out. "What about you? Find anything?"

"Nothing at Steve's home was out of the ordinary. Catherine went to Pearl right after I woke up to see if she could find anything on her end. I brought Steve's laptop just in case he was digging into something he shouldn't."

Chin wiped a hand over a day's worth of scruff. "I don't envy trying to crack his security."

"Look, you need to eat and shower. Then you can play hacker."

"I'll wash up in the men's room," Chin said, standing. "I have a spare set of clothes I can change into. McGarrett has a stockpile of food in his mini-fridge. It'll make do until we can have something delivered."

_**38hrs:56mins remaining**_

By six am, Danny's thermos was almost empty and that was a freaking tragedy. Luckily, Kono arrived with bagels and coffee from the 24-hour diner across the street. He could hear Steve complaining about drinking such toxic sludge, but the fact remained that Steve wasn't here—and that sat like a heavy stone in the pit of his gut.

Kono stood over the magic table, fingers tapping a staccato beat on the edge. "What's our next move?"

Move? They were running out of spaces on the chessboard, trapped and cornered with few options.

"Steve gave me a code. It's up to us to solve it," Danny told her.

Chin walked over. He'd changed into jeans and a green t-shirt, a bead of water dripped down his face. "I used NATO, letter codes, and basic ciphers, and haven't come up with anything."

"Maybe in the heat of the moment, McGarrett reverted to something he used in the SEALs?" Kono suggested.

They were clutching at straws again.

"If he did, then we're not going to be able to crack it without help," Danny admitted.

"Perhaps I might be able to provide some assistance?"

All three of them simultaneously drew their weapons in the direction of the voice.

"Hey, take it easy." A man of Middle Eastern appearance slowly held his hands out to his sides and waved his fingers. "I'm on your side."

The guy's mannerisms and cockiness screamed Fed or CIA, but Danny wasn't taking any chances after allowing Tillman to waltz away. "Really? Then you won't mind keeping your hands where we can see them?"

Chin took a cautious step forward while Kono covered him. "Who are you?"

"May I?" The man answered, pointing at his inside suit pocket.

"Nice and slow," Chin instructed.

The stranger pulled out a wallet. "I'm Special Agent Yasir Khalid, NSA."

Chin didn't miss a beat and studied the identification. "Looks authentic." Khalid smiled. "But Kono will call the governor's office for verification."

"After you hand over your weapon to Chin," Danny added.

Something about this guy pinged familiar on Danny's radar. He studied the tiny scar at the end of the guy's chin and tried placing the accent; it was nondescript like the talking heads on the nightly news.

"I'm here to help. And from what I understand, time is of the essence." Khalid lifted up the left side of his jacket and allowed Chin to retrieve his Sig P22. "There's a business card with my supervisor's contact information next to my badge."

Kono took the wallet from Chin and got on her cell. "Thanks, but I'm calling the governor first."

"Why? So _he_ can call my supervisor? Don't worry, she'll answer," Khalid assured them.

Danny was sick of dealing with self-assured assholes. "Yeah. Why's that?"

"Because, Detective Williams, your unit just crossed paths with one of the international intelligence community's most wanted men."

**_37hrs:49mins remaining_**

Color Danny surprised – someone at the NSA offices actually answered the phone and verified the identity of the agent standing across from him. It didn't improve his mood.

"Forgive me for not rolling out the welcome wagon, especially since most drunks haven't even stumbled home from the bars yet. What did you do? Take a private jet?"

"I caught a military transport on its way to Pearl," Khalid clarified.

Danny stared at the agent. Khalid was his age with a lanky build. He looked nothing like an NSA agent – more like a GQ model. His dark wavy hair had too much gel and, really, how was that government regulation? Not to mention the perfectly groomed eyebrows and manicured nails. _Manicured_. Like his daughter's.

His suit cost more than a month's pay, complete with a purple pocket square in the left breast pocket. God, the guy couldn't be more fake Hollywood if he tried.

Danny hated him.

"Our facial recognition search brought you here, didn't it?" Chin asked confrontationally.

"It did."

Exhaustion had obviously chipped away at Chin's normal easy-going manner and he waltzed up to the NSA agent, his voice deadly. "Then why didn't we get any hits?"

Khalid didn't rise to the bait. "Because your suspect isn't on any normal lists."

"Cut the crap!" Danny snarled. "If you know who kidnapped the head of the governor's task force, a freaking Navy SEAL, and our friend, then spill it. If not, I'll personally boot your ass out the door for wasting our time."

"The man that you're looking for is Ivan Maslov, a former Captain in the Belarusian secret police and an international arms dealer."

Danny did a double take. "Excuse me?"

"I know it's a lot to take in," Khalid placated.

Danny wanted to smack him and his composed persona upside the head. "No, I don't think you understand; the guy who waltzed into our office like some high ranking Navy prick spoke perfect English."

"Maslov was taught American English by a native speaker, learning it phonetically," Khalid explained, fussing with an errant hair that fell in his face. "You wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

"You're serious?" Danny groaned.

"Maslov is wanted by over a dozen countries and–"

"Wait," Chin interrupted, eyebrows furrowed. "You said Maslov was an international arms dealer? What's he doing with McGarrett?"

"We're not sure why he specifically went after Commander McGarrett," Khalid admitted, frowning. "This is a shift in his operations."

"Yeah, from weapons to kidnapping," Chin muttered darkly.

"It's more complicated than that." Khalid inserted a flash drive and brought up a picture of their suspect. "Eight years ago, Maslov went from selling shipments of automatic weapons to brokering stockpiles of nuclear materials from former Soviet satellite countries. When that didn't prove lucrative enough, he switched to espionage."

"Like U.S. troop movements overseas?" Kono ventured.

"Or passwords to top secret computer servers, plans for defense programs, lists of various undercover operatives." Khalid carefully looked from Danny to Kono to Chin. "He deals with that which commands the most money. He'd sell Pakistani secrets to India one day, then Chinese intelligence to the Russians."

"Why did he kidnap Steve?" Danny asked.

Khalid paused in thought before answering. "With all the recent successes of special operations across the globe, we think Commander McGarrett became a target because of his status as an ex-SEAL."

Chin nodded in agreement. "Because he's an expert on their SOP and training."

"Not to mention his background in intelligence and firsthand knowledge of various operations," Khalid added, grim-faced.

Danny rubbed a hand roughly over his face.

"And being the head of Five-0 means his record as a SEAL is more widely known," Chin continued talking, his own dawning horror of the situation etched across his face before it crinkled in confusion.

"But weren't part of his records leaked before when SEAL Team Nine was targeted? Danny confiscated one of Steve's files from a hit man a few months back."

"The Navy traced that leak and I reviewed the file in question. The cartel only had a hard copy pertaining to a specific mission in South America. Maybe that put Commander McGarrett on Maslov's radar. I'm not sure. But living here made the commander a perfect stationary target."

Danny glared at Khalid, trying to come to grips with the gravity of the situation. "Wait. Are you telling us that Steve might have been taken because he's basically a big piece of intelligence, and for all we know, could be half way across the world by now?"

Khalid looked Danny directly in the eye. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

**_37hrs:33mins remaining_**

Danny paced, fighting the urge to punch the wall. A drop of sweat dripped down his face and he angrily rubbed it away with the back of his hand. Christ. Steve had survived war and black-ops missions and he got nabbed at home?

"Where's the rest of you?" Danny poked an accusing finger at Khalid. "There's some international evil asshole running around kidnapping Navy SEALs and the NSA sends one freaking agent? What? Did you draw the short straw?"

"No, I volunteered," Khalid said, meeting Danny's fury completely unruffled. "It's called discretion. If I showed up with an entire task force and commandeered half the HPD, it would tip Maslov off. And believe me, Detective, we almost did it. _That's_ how important we deem the situation."

His answer didn't defuse Danny's temper. "What if we locate Steve and need extra resources?"

"That's why SEAL Team Four is on standby," Khalid responded.

The guy had an answer for everything.

Danny's head spun and he struggled to control his thoughts. "Isn't SEAL Team Nine on the island?"

"Not anymore."

"Okay. So, now we've established who took Steve and why," Chin said, physically standing between Danny and Khalid. "Do we know how?"

"That is one of the reasons why I wanted to know more about the message the commander gave Detective Williams." Khalid pulled up photos of various businessmen and soldiers onto the plasma. "Maslov has an ingenious modus operandi. He does his research and determines who has access to the intelligence he desires. Then he approaches the mark and tells them if they do not hand over what he demands, he'll blow up a nearby target."

He scrolled through pictures of scarred and smoldering remains of neighborhoods and buildings.

"He's meticulous. Maslov targets hospitals or locations with the most innocent people. He also ensures there is a personal connection involved and the subject has either family or friends residing or working within the target area. Then Maslov threatens the mark. Tells them to either hand over the intelligence or he'll blow up the target."

"Jesus," Danny whispered.

Kono walked over from where she'd been quietly observing everything and stared at the screen in shock. "We're assuming that McGarrett would recognize Maslov on sight?"

Khalid closed the file on the bombings. "Maslov has been in the top ten most wanted criminals in the intelligence community for years. Not only would Commander McGarrett recognize Maslov, he would take his threat seriously."

"Steve handed himself over to keep Maslov from killing a ton of people." Danny didn't fault Steve, unsure what he'd do if their positions were reversed. But it still ticked him off that Steve hadn't found another option without serving himself up on a silver platter.

"We need to determine the location of the bomb and disarm it." Khalid pinned Danny with a glare. "Which is why the message Commander McGarrett passed on is so vital."

"Three hundred and twenty-five," Danny spat exasperated. "That's it. That's all he said."

"Think," Khalid pressured. "The number is most likely an address, somewhere with a personal connection to the commander."

"Wait." Chin snapped his fingers. "Maslov was standing right next to Steve when he spoke to Danny. McGarrett would never have used a number that would give away a message to Maslov."

Danny squeezed his eyes closed, recalling every detail of the conversation. "Steve said three hundred clowns. No, make it three hundred and twenty-five clowns."

"Maybe he meant six hundred and twenty-five?" Kono suggested.

_"I've got to do this thing so bad stuff doesn't happen."_

Danny's heart thudded painfully against his chest. Who was Steve protecting?

Six hundred and twenty-five. Six hundred and twenty-five. Six hundred and twenty-five.

That number rang a bell. It was right there, on the tip of his tongue. A familiar–

His heart stopped.

"No! He meant _625_." Danny almost threw up. "Oh, my God. That's the address to Grace's school."


	2. Chapter 2

_**36hrs:03mins remaining**_

A food supply truck drove up to the Academy of the Sacred Heart and parked right outside the cafeteria entrance, the bomb squad hidden inside it. Danny squeezed the binoculars until his fingered ached.

Kono brushed a hand down his arm. "We're lucky it's Saturday."

That was the only reason why he'd kept it together on the drive over and put up with the idea of operating things from the ice cream shop across the street.

"Yeah," he mumbled, thinking about the seven hundred children who attended the school.

Khalid paced while he spoke on his cell phone, directing the operation. Danny was still ticked at not being the one in control of things. But Khalid had ordered the Navy Bomb Disposal Unit to the scene before anyone from Five-0 could call HPD, placing the op under NSA jurisdiction.

It was chilly inside the ice cream parlor and he shivered. "Is all the cloak and dagger crap really necessary?"

"If there is a bomb inside, we don't want to alert Maslov that we're on to him."

Kono's ears perked up at Khalid's response. "So you think there's a chance he's still on the island?"

But Danny knew the real answer Kono wanted. Could _Steve_ still be here? Was there a real chance of finding him?

"Until we have evidence otherwise, I'm going to operate under that assumption," Khalid said, sidestepping the answer.

"You honestly think this Maslov would have the school under surveillance?" Danny asked.

"Why risk it?" Khalid challenged. "He used it against Commander McGarrett and still could be using it as leverage. We want to find it before he does detonate it."

The pastel blues and pinks of the walls did little to ease Danny's growing agitation. All the glittery stars on the ceiling and rainbows splashed across the stools reminded him of Grace giggling and asking for a sugar cone with extra sprinkles. The little ice cream parlor was a favorite spot of theirs and probably hundreds of other parents and kids after school.

He nodded at Kono as she sat down next to him at the counter. "You hear from Chin?"

"He's still chasing down leads on how Maslov could have entered the island. He went to ElJet Charter Company to talk to the owner about a guy matching Maslov's description."

Khalid's phone buzzed and he walked to the other side of the shop for a tense conversation while Danny watched him out of the corner of his eye. "Did you call Catherine about checking this guy out?"

"Yeah. She said she'd get back to us ASAP."

Finishing his call, Khalid strolled over. "They located the device in a supply closet near the gym. They're disarming it now."

Danny's stomach dropped. His little girl's school had bomb inside – a fucking bomb. She'd been _this_ close to shrapnel and fire and rubble. And God, how many children could have been maimed or killed? This was Hawaii, not Baghdad.

"Danny?" Kono whispered.

"Gimme me a minute."

He stared at the polished white stonework and ornate pillars surrounding the school, thought about the laughter echoing off the alcoves, and walking inside with Rachel for parent-teacher conferences. He bit his bottom lip. Steve had saved Grace. Of course, he'd saved all the other kids too, but the leverage, the pressure point to Steve's Achilles' heel had been Danny's daughter.

It felt like a hot knife to the gut.

Danny cupped his face between his sweaty hands in revulsion at being grateful for what Steve did. Because Grace was everything. After coming so close to losing her–

He sprang to his feet, Kono flinching in surprise at the sudden movement. Riding a wave of adrenaline, Danny marched right up to Khalid, all his thoughts tumbling out in a rush of heat and anger.

"I want everything you have on Ivan Maslov. How he became a master terrorist. What motivates him, what makes him tick. I want to know his favorite thing for breakfast. What turns him on, what scares the living shit out of him. And I want to know it all right now."

_**35hrs:39mins remaining**_

Danny drove with Kono in the passenger seat, putting him in the awkward position of focusing on the road while Khalid spoke from his spot in the back.

"In 1997, The Council of Europe barred the country of Belarus from membership for its undemocratic voting during their elections."

"I don't need a history lesson," Danny said, gripping the steering wheel harder.

"You want to know what makes Maslov tick? Then you'll listen to my lesson," Khalid fired back. "Belarus is a state out of line with international law and human rights and Alexander Lukashenko has ruled it for nearly two decades."

Danny glared in irritation at Khalid in the review mirror and the agent dabbed at his sweat-slicked brow with his pocket square. "Maslov is under the protection of Lukashenko. He started as one of the secret police in that country, built up money and men until he set off on his own."

Kono turned around in her seat. "Belarus isn't exactly a military powerhouse."

Danny glanced up and watched Khalid loosened his tie as the AC struggled to cool the rest of the car. "No, but it's a well armed country and security is – lax."

"So what happened?" Danny took a hard right, tires screeching. "Maslov just suddenly decided to become an arms dealer?"

"We're not sure. He worked his way up the ranks of a corrupt government run by an even more corrupt president." Khalid grabbed the safety handle as Danny took another fast turn. "In 1999, Maslov started dealing arms to Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War just as Lukashenko suggested to Yugoslav President Milosevic that Yugoslavia join the Union of Russia and Belarus."

"Dude," Kono whistled. "Talk about classic shadiness, arming the same side that his country wanted to become allies with."

"Not only that, but once Maslov made inroads with the Serbs, he switched sides by selling weapons to the KLA."

"How did Maslov get cozy with Lukashenko?" Danny asked, trying to keep his foot off the accelerator. God, he was driving like Steve now.

"Functions or parties. We're not sure." Khalid shifted forward in his seat. "But we think their relationship solidified sometime a year later when Russia's President Putin offered Lukashenko a deal over oil."

"And we care because?" Danny growled, increasingly frustrated.

"Maslov was the go-between for the Belarusian army and Russian forces and consequently started selling Russian intelligence to Syria even though they were allies."

"Why?" Kono asked.

"Because it was easier for Syria to sell those secrets to the true buyers: the Chechnyan separatists. After that success, in 2003 during the Iraq War, U.S intelligence traced arms shipments from Belarus through Syria to arm Iraqi insurgents."

"Unbelievable," Danny muttered.

But Khalid wasn't done talking about the monster they were after.

"Maslov got out of arms dealing and refined his taste for selling state secrets. With ties to the Middle East and Eastern Europe, he reached out to Asia."

Khalid continued dabbing at his sweaty face. "By 2006, Lukashenko orchestrated undemocratic parliamentary elections to extend his power and control over his people. Maslov provided Lukashenko with a secret police force in exchange for protection from foreign governments while expanding his black market empire."

In other words, the asshole who took Steve had the protection of an entire country backing him.

_**35hrs:09mins remaining**_

Even at nine in the morning, the sun promised another balmy day during the uncharacteristic heat wave. Danny slammed the car door closed and fought the urge to slam it a few more times for good measure. Kicking the front tire crossed his mind. Kono climbed out of the passenger side and shot him a concerned look. He banged his hand on the roof of the SUV, which didn't alleviate a bit of frustration.

He and Kono waited for Chin to pull into the parking lot, forcing Khalid to wait by the drivers' side, the early sunlight glinting off his Ray-Bans.

Locking his car, Chin quickly jogged over to them. "Hey, was the bomb disarmed?"

"The Navy EOD unit successfully removed it a few minutes ago. The remains are being transported back to Pearl for analysis," Khalid answered. "I just –"

When Danny sent him a death glare, Khalid shut up. Danny closed his eyes and wished he knew some of those yoga-type calming techniques. "Please tell me you got something from the charter company?"

"Not much," Chin admitted, but kept his tone of voice even. "Maslov paid in cash and didn't plan a return trip. However, I did get a copy of his flight plan to Oahu. Maybe it'll give us something to follow up on."

Danny kept silent as the four of them walked up the steps, trying not to think how Khalid's soft tread across the marble floor should be a Timberland boot.

Sergeant Duke Lukela flagged them down in the hall, rushing to catch up to them. "Hey, you guys have a visitor waiting on you inside."

"Are you kidding me?" Danny whirled around. "Haven't we filled our quota for random visitors for the whole month, no, the whole year in the last forty-eight hours?"

"He wouldn't take no for an answer." Lukela defended.

"Unless it's the pope, we're busy," Danny snapped.

Kono glared at Danny before turning to the sergeant. "Who is it?"

Lukela cleared his throat. "Adam Noshimuri."

_**34hrs:33mins remaining**_

Danny felt like a runaway freight train, tearing down the hall. "You let Noshimuri inside?"

"He refused to wait at HPD," Lukela huffed, trying to keep up with him. "And he insisted that it was a matter of life and death."

Four of HPD's finest stood in the rarely used waiting room of HQ, watching Adam Noshimuri and his two henchmen. The officers parted like the Red Sea when Danny steamrolled over.

Both of Noshimuri's goons bolted to their feet as Danny pointed at finger at them. "You two. Leave. Now."

Kono and Chin flanked each punk while the officers waited, their hands resting on their service weapons. Noshimuri nodded at his security detail, who reluctantly left with Lukela and his men.

Chin took charge, addressing their guest. "You're the last person we expected to see today."

Noshimuri exuded charm, dressed in his charcoal Armani suit and pale olive dress shirt. Such finesse worked well to cover up his devious nature. He studied them with a quick look, his face betraying nothing.

He stood slowly, grabbing an attaché case from the floor and resting it on the empty chair. "Believe me, Lieutenant Kelly, this was the last place I expected to be this morning."

"Why don't you drop the small talk – why are you here?" Kono demanded.

Her quick temper reminded Danny that they were all running on fumes.

Noshimuri regarded her with a bored glance. "Getting down to business. I appreciate that."

Danny wanted to tell him where he could stick his appreciation, but kept his trap shut, battling the need to throw Noshimuri into a holding cell.

"Two days ago, I received an unusual invitation to an online auction," Noshimuri explained. "At first, I thought it was an elaborate scheme, but after careful consideration, I confirmed its legitimacy."

Kono's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What type of auction?"

"One involving the sale of a former Navy SEAL."

_**32hrs:23mins remaining**_

Danny didn't remember them exiting the waiting room and piling into Chin's office. But when Chin slammed the door close, it snapped him out of his daze.

"I don't care who you are," Chin breathed at Noshimuri, eyes promising violence. "You start jerking us around and our earlier investigation into your organization will just be the tip of the iceberg. We'll suspend our whole caseload and make you public enemy number one. Pry into every level of your organization, rip it apart, and hound all your associates until they jump at their own shadows."

Chin Ho Kelly rarely showcased his emotions like this, but when he did, it was a glorious sight for Danny to behold.

Noshimuri appeared unmoved by the threat. "I came here because my conscience wouldn't allow me to do otherwise. I'm sorry it took me so long to figure out what to do," Noshimuri spoke before resting his gaze on Khalid in curiosity. Danny had forgotten that the agent was observing them quietly in the corner. "I'm only trying to do the right thing."

"Just –" Danny held up his hand. "Cut the crap and tell us about this auction."

"I received an e-mail inviting me to participate in the auction of a highly valued asset. In the message was a short bio of Commander McGarrett." Noshimuri tilted his head. "Suspicious but intrigued, I clicked on the attachment, which revealed several pages of McGarrett's service record. If I wanted more information regarding the business opportunity, all I needed was to reply."

"Steve's not a fucking business opportunity," Danny growled.

"I was just quoting the e-mail; forgive my poor word choice," Noshimuri apologized.

"And you answered it?" Chin accused.

"Of course." Noshimuri had the gall to look offended. "Obviously, this involved something highly illegal, but I realized I should play along to gather additional information."

Noshimuri relaxed back in his chair like they were chatting over morning tea.

"After an hour, I received another notification. This one included a link to the auction to bid on McGarrett, listed the rules and the accepted forms of payment. The e-mail included reports of various missions that McGarrett was involved in with the ability to request more detailed versions."

Khalid's head practically snapped up at that last bit. "Do you still have these e-mails?"

"I do."

"Did you read them?" Khalid pressed.

"Only enough to determine it would be in my best interest that I didn't," Noshimuri answered with a poker face.

"How did you know this auction was legit?" Chin asked, refocusing the attention back on finding Steve.

"I've heard rumors concerning similar auctions dealing with rare shipments," Noshimuri answered with the vagueness of a politician. "The only name associated with such transactions was a man known in certain circles as Ivan. That same name was the one signed at the end of the e-mails. I didn't suspect a HPD trap, because I highly doubt they know of his existence or are that creative."

"And as a prospective buyer, you were supposed to take this Ivan at his word?" Kono asked.

"Once I replied that I was interested in the auction, I was offered proof of the legitimacy of the merchandise."

Chin slapped his hands on the table. "You were given proof of life?"

"A video clip." Noshimuri opened his attaché case, revealing a laptop, and logged into his e-mail. "I brought it and all the correspondence with me."

Danny inched closer to a small video image. The camcorder operator's breathing and several off-screen footsteps echoed loud in the speakers. They watched as someone unlocked a door, the video revealing a dimly lit room and focusing on a person lying on top of a rectangular metal frame. Danny squinted. It was a bed frame without a mattress with wires running across it.

He felt his pulse double. The camera panned over a pair of bare feet and ankles handcuffed to the bottom of the metal frame. Then it swept over a set of familiar cargo pants and ended on Steve's face. His eyes were closed.

Chin cursed under his breath and Kono anxiously bobbed up and down on her toes.

Steve's wrists were handcuffed to the frame above his head and a meaty hand spread yesterday's newspaper across Steve's left shoulder long enough to be read before it was pulled away.

"Time to wake up, Commander," a voice instructed.

Steve didn't stir.

A bucket of water was dumped over Steve's head, jarring him into semi-consciousness. The camera zoomed in on his unfocused eyes, darting around in confusion.

"State your name," the voice commanded.

Steve weakly yanked on the cuffs to his wrists and his feet, his efforts uncoordinated.

"Look at me, Commander," the voice demanded.

But Steve's head lolled to one side as if searching for the source of the noise before flopping back down.

"I don't think he knows what's going on. They're keeping him drugged," Chin said, his voice rough.

"Can't have their prize damaged in an escape attempt," Danny growled.

Because mark his words, Steve would have jimmied out of those cuffs and turned that bed frame into a weapon if he were in his right mind. Instead, Danny watched, sick to his stomach, as Steve quickly gave out and his eyes fluttered closed.

Someone roughly shook Steve by the shoulder. "I said, state your name!"

"Fuck you," Steve slurred, his eyes never reopening.

There was a chuckle off-camera and a picture of Steve in uniform was shoved next to his face just in case there was any doubt who was on camera.

"As you can see, Commander McGarrett is in fine form," the voice said.

Then the clip ended, leaving the team stunned.

_**32hrs:03mins remaining**_

"When does the auction end?" Khalid's voice pierced the silence. He snapped his fingers at Noshimuri when he didn't respond immediately. "Show me the site."

Noshimuri regarded Khalid, annoyed. "Speaking as a concerned third party, I'm curious. Who are you? CIA? Homeland Security?"

Khalid leaned over, getting into Noshimuri's personal space. Danny watched Khalid switch from debonair to bone chilling menace. "I'm the man who'll have all your computers confiscated with a simple phone call if you don't comply."

Noshimuri leaned forward on his elbows. "Do you know how many lawyers I have on retainer?"

"I don't care if you have an entire firm." Khalid veered closer. "And neither does the Patriot Act."

"You should learn some respect," Noshimuri threatened, rising to his feet until they literally butted heads. "I came as a concerned citizen. I don't have to–"

"Enough!" Danny snapped. "Mr. Noshimuri, would you please show us the link to the auction? It would greatly aid us in our investigation."

It nauseated him to reveal a sign of weakness, but they couldn't afford to have their only lead walk away because of a pissing match between two egos.

"Out of the hope of smoothing over ties between my family and Five-0, I will do what I can to help," Noshimuri said smoothly, sitting down. He entered his e-mail program and clicked on a link. "This is the auction site. It ends on Sunday at six in the afternoon."

"It's ten am now," Chin said, checking his watch. "That's less than two days."

Danny swallowed past the lump in his throat as he stared at the screen. "There's already four bids."

"One point two million," Noshimuri said admiringly.

Danny wanted to rip the guy's face off.

"We might be able to track down the IP addresses of those who are involved in the auction," Khalid speculated with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, we might," Danny said. "But we're more interested in finding the person hosting this demented thing."

Khalid flicked his eyes toward Danny. "The focus of this investigation will be the rescue of Commander McGarrett." The NSA agent pinned each member of Five-0 with a hard stare. "But do I need to remind you of the importance to national security of identifying those involved in kidnapping a Navy SEAL?"

The room fell into a heavy silence, filling Danny's heart with dread.

Noshimuri cleared his throat. "If it would help, I could leave my laptop here for your use."

"No, you're staying right here where we can find you," Chin said.

"You can't hold me here," Noshimuri warned. "But I'll remain a little while."

Danny spun on the leader of the Yakuza. "I don't get it. Why are you here? Why help retrieve the guy in charge of bringing you down?"

"For honor. For the love between a father and his son." Noshimuri's expression revealed a rare sincerity as he held his head high. "Commander McGarrett respected that honor. I'm only trying to repay a debt."

_**31hrs:40mins remaining**_

Danny splashed cold water over his face, slapping his cheeks until they stung. The reflection in the mirror seemed drawn and haggard; he looked like a guy on a three-day bender.

He wanted to blame Steve, blame his need to play hero and protect everyone else except himself, but that was the coward's way out. He blamed Maslov, of course; that asshole earned the beating of his life and then some. And no way would he allow the NSA to scoop him out of reach before Danny earned his pound of flesh.

Most of all, he blamed himself for letting Steve walk out of the office, for not picking up on the clues. But really, truthfully, he blamed himself for being Steve's weak point because Steve would kill and die for his 'ohana.

The bathroom door creaked open and the last person he expected to see was Agent Khalid.

"I...ah...brought you some hot tea. I never travel without some." Danny stared at the paper cup like it was a three headed snake. "You're under a lot of stress and I thought it would help. I'm not the bad guy, you know."

Danny winced. He wondered how many times Khalid had to say that on a daily basis. "Sure. Thanks," he mumbled. He sipped slowly and the bitter taste made his eyes go wide. "Oh, wow. That's...um. Interesting."

"My mother's brew. One of the perks of the job. I don't have to explain traveling with loose tea leaves."

The hint of cinnamon, the richness of anise. The flavors hit Danny all at once and his brain skittered to a stop as he stared at the agent.

Khalid chuckled. "You remember me now?"

Danny gaped and stared at Khalid's face, at the scar on his chin. "It can't be?"

"I didn't go by Yasir when we were young because it was tough enough growing up being the only raghead in the neighborhood. I thought Yanni was a cool name at the time," Khalid chuckled.

Danny couldn't believe his eyes, flashes of his childhood zipping through his mind like a home movie. Playing outside with Sugar, his yellow lab. The smell of his mother's pecan pie cooling in the windowsill, tangling with the Gorski brothers after school, watching his cousin at the local boxing ring.

"We used to play basketball together at the YMCA," Danny said. "Fourth or fifth grade?"

"Fifth."

"Then we'd go to your mom's for lunch sometimes and she'd serve us tea." Danny shook his head. "I hated it."

Khalid casually folded his arms in front of him, quickly checking the wall for dirt before leaning against it. "She knew you used to pour it in her potted plants."

Danny couldn't believe it. "Shit. I gave you that scar when we both went after the same defensive player. I knocked you down and you smacked your chin on the edge of the goal post."

"Yes, you did." Khalid rubbed at the faded, jagged line with a sly grin. "It's a great date conversation piece, although I might embellish how I got it sometimes."

It was like a weird time warp. Danny stared at Khalid and his ridiculous Savile Row suit and spa-treated skin and hair. Gone were the second-hand clothes and worn tennis shoes he remembered.

He laughed, but his good humor faded quickly. "What's with the ruse? It's great you're doing well, but it's been like twenty-five years since we saw each other."

"You were friends with me when most kids refused to be," Khalid said, pushing off the wall. "I was honest when I said I volunteered for this assignment."

"Are you kidding me?" Danny was so baffled, so just…_what the hell_? "I defended you against a few neighborhood bullies. What? When we were nine? And you _volunteered?_"

"The agency has programs you wouldn't believe," Khalid spoke to Danny like he'd never understand. "After typing in every person involved in the case, the computer spat out my name. When you join the NSA, the background checks are hundreds of pages long, and your personal history –" He shook his head. "You have no idea."

"So what if we're both from the same neighborhood?"

"The agency felt you might be more forthcoming to me than a stranger as the case heated up."

"Is that what this is?" Danny threw up his hands in anger. "Some psychological bullshit?"

"No, Danny, it's not. That's why I didn't do old home week when I first walked in. I got my master's in criminal justice. When 9/11 happened, I applied to the NSA to help track down terrorists, to show my country that not every Middle Easterner hides explosives in their basements." Khalid ran a hand through his wavy hair. "I've spent my life going after the bullies of the world. Believe me when I say that I want to get Maslov and shut him down. I took this assignment when I was approached because I wanted to help Commander McGarrett. Both goals are equally important."

Something Khalid admitted struck a nerve with Danny. "What are you saying? That the NSA doesn't view both the same?"

"I'm saying that the NSA views rescuing Commander McGarrett as a critically important objective." Taking a deep breath, he looked at Danny in thought. "But taking down one of the biggest international criminals is the NSA's overall goal."

Danny lost all words as the shock hit from that revelation.

"This is why I volunteered. Yes, we knew each other a lifetime ago, but I joined the agency because we're supposed to be the good guys and McGarrett is one them. He deserves a fair shot when he needs his country's help."

Khalid cleared his throat, stepped up to the nearest mirror, and smoothed down his shirt, the too-cool facade slipping back into place. Gone was the boyhood friend and back the professional agent. "What was Adam Noshimuri talking about back there about honor and owing McGarrett a debt?"

Khalid wasn't as suave as he thought.

"Nothing," Danny lied. "He and McGarrett have been dogging each other a while."

"Because of Hiro Noshimuri? Adam's father?"

"What about him?"

"Well, Hiro's dead. And HPD suspected Commander White was involved?"

"There wasn't enough evidence to connect Joe with Hiro's death. But that doesn't matter because he skipped town."

"Yet, Adam Noshimuri came here to–"

"You know, thanks for the tea and everything, but we're up against a ticking clock," Danny growled, shoving the empty cup back into Khalid's hands.

Khalid took the cup and threw it in the waste receptacle beside him. He considered Danny a moment and checked his Rolex watch. "You need to call a meeting, say in half in half an hour? I need to update my supervisor."

And with that, Agent Khalid walked out of the men's room, leaving Danny's head swimming, and him questioning whether the NSA and Five-0 shared the same objectives.

_31hrs:18mins remaining_

Calm, calm, calm.

Danny paced, not giving a shit he was still in the bathroom.

What the fuck? Seriously? What the fuck?

Khalid had been his neighbor across street. Those punks, the Gorski brothers, had unmercifully picked on him, stealing his lunch money, insulting his heritage. Then one day, Danny had stopped on his way home after seeing John and Tommy Gorski jump his lanky neighbor. Together, he and Khalid teamed up and stood their ground together. They forged a friendship and Danny had someone willing to sneak out of the house at night to grab pizza from Devito's after curfew.

And the NSA thought they could exploit that? A long forgotten boyhood friendship? Danny's life, his memories, and emotions were not one of Steve's algorithms they could exploit.

It gave him a horrible headache.

His cell phone buzzed and the pain spiked through his temples. When he saw Governor Denning's number across the display, Danny wondered if he could flush his head down one of the toilets.

"Hello?"

_"Detective Williams. Governor Denning."_

"Hello, sir."

_"I'm about to head into a meeting but I wanted an update."_

"Well, sir, we haven't made much progress on regarding the money laundering. We don't anticipate another deposit until Monday, but to be honest, we're–"

_"Williams. Locating Commander McGarrett should be the priority of your unit. You have the whole weight of my office and the HPD at your disposal. You need something, I'm just a call away."_

"Yes, sir. Thank you," Danny said in relief.

_"I expect updates throughout the day. Send them to my personal e-mail if you're too busy to pick up a phone."_

"Yes, sir."

_"I do want you to contact Lieutenant Hoapili at HPD and get him up to date on your investigation into the Tong. You were expecting a big breakthrough soon?"_

"Yes, we were."

_"Good. Be sure he has everything he needs to take over."_

"I'll do it as soon as I get off the phone with you."

_"Make sure that you do. And, Detective, I value Five-0's high-solve rate. I expect success on both those cases."_

"Yes, sir."

**_31hrs:02mins remaining_**

Danny went down the hall, cell phone pressed to his ear, and almost bumped into Catherine who was still dressed in camo with her hair pulled back.

"Sorry," she said, flustered.

"No, it's fine." Danny pocketed the phone. "Hey...I, um, didn't expect to see you here."

Catherine kept nervously checking behind her. "I didn't want to risk calling you."

Danny wondered if paranoia was in the air. "Risk calling me?"

Scanning the hall, she pulled him back toward the men's room. "This thing regarding Steve..." Catherine bit her lip. "His abduction. It's big. Bigger than anything else you could ever imagine."

"I know." When Catherine looked at him oddly, he gestured down the hall. "Agent Khalid from the NSA is here."

"Yeah and his team have set up shop back at Pearl."

That two-faced bastard.

"What do you mean _his_ team?" Danny demanded.

Catherine quickly schooled any emotion. "Five other agents arrived three hours ago with the latest version of Chrysalis and–"

"Chrysalis?"

"Sorry," Catherine said, still keeping an eye for spooks or shadows. "It's a surveillance program. You can feed it a physical description or a photo of a target and it'll search every traffic cam, ATM, and security camera on the island for it."

"They've been searching for Maslov with some super secret spy surveillance and this is the first I've heard of it?"

"Not only that, but they have access to satellite imagery in the event they have a lead on Maslov's location."

Maslov, not Steve.

Catherine kept an eye on the corridor, her whole body a straight line of tension. It started to rub off on Danny as he lowered his voice. "Did you hear anything about Agent Khalid?"

"That he's one of the best."

"That's good news, right?"

"The NSA has been after Maslov for years," Catherine deflected. It was such a Steve thing to do. "They won't let this opportunity slip through their fingers. You know he was sent here because you two knew each other as kids?"

"I just learned that. How did you find out?"

"A lot of favors." Danny stared at her and Catherine stared right back. "When you work in Naval Intelligence, you learn the art of bartering. I used up all my political capital and then some."

Fucking spy games; Danny wanted to pull his hair out. "What else did you hear?"

"His jacket is blacked out. That means he's only given the high priority cases and that he's very successful at what he does."

Instead of filling Danny with confidence, her words only made him even more anxious. Obviously, he wasn't the only one unnerved by the news. Catherine was a formidable woman; anyone able to put up with Steve for years was tough as nails. But that didn't mean she wasn't scared and that fear was written all over her face.

Danny gently took hold of both of her shoulders. "We're going to find him."

Catherine licked her lips and roughly wiped at her face before looking up at him with grim determination. "My source said there was...that there was a video?" she asked, her voice breaking a little.

Danny was proud of himself; he didn't even twitch. "Look. Have you eaten? I haven't had anything since breakfast. Maybe we should–"

"I'm not some delicate flower."

"Oh, I know. I'm sure you and Steve share the newest ass kicking techniques during your time off together." Catherine was gearing up for a fight and he cut her off before she built up too much steam. "He's been tied up and drugged. Nothing else worth seeing."

He knew Catherine was an analyst, but so was Khalid, and Danny didn't want Catherine to have that image of Steve stuck in her head. It was bad enough that it would be engrained forever in his, adding fuel to his nightmares.

Catherine studied Danny's face and he wasn't sure if it was the analyst in her or if she was too exhausted to argue. But she relented, her facial features relaxing. "I can see why you and Steve get along so well."

Before Danny's brain caught up to his mouth, Catherine started to walk away.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"I'm a better asset as your eyes and ears at the base."

"You really don't trust the NSA, do you?"

He really needed to know because he felt like a pawn being bullied around by the rooks and knights on the board.

Catherine turned and straightened to parade rest. "I trust them to do everything in their power to bring down a threat to national security. I trust that they want to see Steve home and secure. But not their priorities."

_**30hrs:51mins remaining**_

It was a little past noon and Danny sat restlessly in Chin's office with the rest of the team as they prepared for the meeting. Lukela came in with quarts of surimi salad, egg rolls, garlic chicken, vegetable rice, and mushroom broccoli without a word.

Taking in the feast around the table, Danny couldn't help wonder if the animals holding Steve would even bother feeding him. The pang of guilt was enough to quash the rest of his appetite. Pushing the quart away, he caught Chin watching him.

"They want Steve alive and in good shape."

"I know," Danny sighed, then narrowed his eyes. "Mind reading is kind of freaky."

Chin poked at his food with his chopsticks. "It wasn't hard reading your face, brah."

Khalid took that moment to swoop in and close the door to Chin's office. "Where are we at on Noshimuri's laptop and the bids? Are you able to track down their origins?"

"Not without hacking into the hosting site and risk them shutting the whole thing down," Chin said.

Khalid stared at the floor in thought before looking up at Chin. "Could we do it if we were logged into the site?"

"Yeah. Maybe." Chin stuck his chopsticks into a container and stood up, circling around the small office. "But it requires a login and password to get into the actual auction."

"What?" Danny interrupted. "We can't do that now?"

"No," Chin answered with a shake of his head. "Noshimuri clicked on the link that goes to the main page of the auction. But I just checked and we need him to enter his user name and password to view the other bids or to even place one."

"Then get him to do it," Khalid insisted.

"Wait." Danny held out his hands in frustration. "Didn't we already have this discussion? How's that going to help us track down Steve?"

"It won't," Khalid said, shocking Danny with his honesty. "But the agency wants that information, and if we provide it, then it'll keep them busy while we focus our resources on locating Commander McGarrett."

"Or maybe, just maybe, we could focus all one hundred percent of our energy on finding him?" Danny crossed his arms defiantly. "Or do you need to consult your _team_ first?"

If calling Khalid on the carpet for his lies rattled him, he didn't show it.

"I didn't lie to you when I arrived. I came alone to operate under the radar. My supervisor ordered the rest of my team to back up my investigation from Pearl-Hickam by conducting extensive surveillance."

Danny was sick of wading through such bullshit. "And when were you planning to tell us?"

"Look." Khalid sighed, raking his hand through his hair. "Right now, I'm the only thing standing in the way of an entire NSA team coming in and taking over this operation and locking Five-0 out. I have a good track record and I've been given a slim rope to hang myself with by doing this as a one-man op. Give me something to give them."

Once again, Chin walked between Danny and Khalid, providing a physical barrier. "Even if we were logged in, I'm not sure I could root around and track down IP addresses that are more than likely being bounced all over the world."

"I know someone who might help," Danny told them. "Someone who can run circles around any government agency," he added, looking directly at Khalid.

_**30hrs:40mins remaining**_

Danny stared at the laptop, almost afraid to touch it and sever the only lead for locating Steve. But he forced himself to re-read the e-mails under the guise of finding an elusive clue, telling himself it wasn't some form of self-flagellation. His finger hovered over one of the attachments as he clucked his tongue.

Something – curiosity, anxiety, the idea of looking behind the curtain – he wasn't sure what, but he clicked the attachment to Steve's service record. It wasn't his full record or jacket or whatever they called it, just detailed snippets of things. He scrolled down until something caught his eye.

_MCGARRETT, STEVEN J_

_Citation:_

_The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Presidential Unit Citation to Steven J McGarrett, Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving as a Navy SEAL in the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-South, known as Task Force K-BAR, for service between 17 October 2001 and 30 March 2002._

_Operating from Oman and forward locations throughout the southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan, K-BAR successfully executed its primary mission to conduct special operations in support of the United States' efforts to destroy, degrade, and neutralize the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership and military. During its six-month existence, this Task Force was the driving force behind extremely high-risk missions and unconventional warfare operations in Afghanistan. Task-Force K-BAR reflected great credit upon themselves and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Armed Forces._

_MCGARRETT, STEVEN J_

_Citation:_

_The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Steven J McGarrett, Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy as a member of SEAL Team THREE, Naval Special Warfare Task Group in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM on 14 May 2003, near Tikrit, Iraq. Lieutenant McGarrett led SEAL Team THREE on a counter-insurgency operation through an urban area. The force came under heavy gunfire, one element member was wounded, and laid exposed to gunfire in multiple directions. Lieutenant McGarrett identified the enemy, exposed himself to heavy enemy fire, provided suppressive fire, and dragged his teammate to safety. Later, he called in reinforcements to protect the surrounding area from hostile action._

Danny stared dumbstruck at the records. He knew Steve was a badass, knew the man did some insane stuff, but reading about his deeds, his heroics, twisted the metaphorical knife in his gut.

He arrowed down.

_MCGARRETT, STEVEN J_

_Citation:_

_The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Purple Heart to Steven J McGarrett, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action on 22 March 2004, leading a coalition force of SEALs, U.S. Marines, and Iraqi fighters against armed Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq. While conducting sensitive operations, his coalition unit was suddenly ambushed. Lieutenant Commander McGarrett displayed great valor returning fire despite receiving a gunshot wound in the leg from enemy fire. Although in intense pain from his wound, Lieutenant Commander McGarrett rapidly identified the enemy positions and maneuvered the coalition forces into an advantageous fighting position. Lieutenant Commander McGarrett demonstrated the highest degree of courage and excellent leadership through his distinguished performance as Team Leader while engaged in Urban Combat Operations. Lieutenant Commander McGarrett personally eliminated multiple enemy-controlled weapon positions, essential in turning the tide of the enemy's ambush. His actions while wounded and under fire as a leader were performed with marked distinction and bravery._

"You can't look at those."

Danny fumbled with the mouse and backed out of the e-mail, but it was too late to fake what he'd been doing.

"Why not?" he asked, turning around to face Khalid who stood in the doorway.

"They're classified for one and—"

"Classified?" Danny snarled, jumping out of his chair. "Doesn't that mean secure? As in free from or not exposed to danger or harm? Because from where I'm sitting, you guys didn't do a good job protecting those files." Poor security was the reason why they were in this mess. He waved at the laptop. "Are these on just any server for some two-bit hacker to grab?"

"No, they're not," Khalid snapped back, showing the first sign of stress. "They're kept in highly secured locations. In fact, Commander McGarrett's service jacket is kept by the Navy, but those mission history reports? They're secured by SOCOM, which is the Special Operations Command, comprised of Navy, Air Force, and Army..." He took a rapid breath. "Don't you see? Maslov was able to obtain all of McGarrett's records. SOCOM provides command, control, and training for all our special missions. The Bin Laden and the Buchanan rescue..." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "All our special operations are in jeopardy."

Khalid had shed his fancy tailored jacket at some point and began removing his cufflinks to roll up his sleeves. "We've got to find Maslov. We need to locate the leaks in our classified operations to protect other special operators and ensure the success of future missions."

"I get it! Damn it, I do." Did Khalid think he was that naïve or stupid? That he didn't want to track down a mass murderer? "We'll find this asshole, but I'm not sacrificing Steve to do it."

"I'm not asking you to!" Khalid yelled, breathing hard. "But I am asking you to help with all sides of this investigation."

Chin poked his head into his office, eyes nervously darting between Khalid to Danny. "Noshimuri's waiting for us in my office."

"Okay." Danny took a moment to wipe the sweat off his brow before looking directly at Khalid. "This is going to be a private meeting."

"Wait a damn minute," Khalid growled in surprise.

But Danny was fed up with the games. This was Five-0's case – their 'ohana.

"Go get a pedicure or something," Danny told him. "You're an outsider and Noshimuri doesn't like you. It's going to be hard enough to ask this asshole for help, let alone have you hanging around." Khalid pulled himself up straight, obviously not wanting to back down, but Danny didn't care. "You want to learn what countries are involved in this? Then we'll talk to Noshimuri. In private."

_**30hrs:12mins remaining**_

Kono stood next to Noshimuri, who hadn't taken a seat when Danny and Chin entered.

"I heard you require further assistance?" Noshimuri asked.

"Something like that," Danny grumbled.

"Please," Noshimuri said, spreading out his hands. "Don't hold me in suspense."

"We need you to log into the auction site," Chin said, getting straight to the point.

"You do? Why?"

"It'll help our investigation," Chin answered.

"You want me associate myself with possible terrorists. I think that gives me the right to know why," Noshimuri insisted.

Noshimuri held all the cards in this poker game and he knew it, but Danny wasn't going to dance around. "We're not _asking _you to get involved; _you're already involved."_

"If I recall, I'm the one who provided you with information regarding the auction to begin with." Noshimuri stood, basking in self-confidence. "I'm sure you read the e-mails. I have to provide proof of funds when bidding and that opens my business up to many security vulnerabilities."

"You expressed a hope to improve ties between your family and ours," Kono said, her voice cracking in desperation.

"This is true." Noshimuri's brow furrowed in contemplation. "I tell you what, I'll give you my login and password if you would do me a personal favor."

Here it was, Danny thought. The carrot and the stick.

"What's that?" Chin demanded.

"Nothing difficult," Noshimuri said with a shrug. "Just something involving a few keystrokes."

Chin crossed his arms. "What type of keystrokes?"

"Ones that would put the wrong address on a warrant."

"And if we say no?" Chin asked.

"Then I'm sorry, but I can't help."

"You asshole!" Danny snarled. Moving to Noshimuri's other side, he and Chin bookended him.

"These are just the realities of a negotiation," Noshimuri reiterated, cool as cucumber. "The warrant is for a shipment of black market cigarettes. Not illegal drugs or weapons, nothing involving violent crime."

"You know that all warrants are filed by the local court?" Kono asked.

"Yes, but they get the address electronically," Noshimuri countered. "If someone were to go into the database and change a six to a nine, then the court clerk would use that information for the warrant, making the search invalid."

"Such an edit could be traced," Chin said.

"This is just a simple deal," Noshimuri replied.

"No," Danny said. "This is Five-0 sliding on our asses down your slippery slope. We give you this, what'll you ask for next? And how long before everyone in Hawaii knows you've got us in your back pocket? The Yakuza's pet cops. Wouldn't that be a lei around your neck?"

"Right up until you used it to hang me, Detective. This deal works both ways, makes us both vulnerable – and both a step ahead. Quid pro quo."

"You make it sound so _reasonable_," Chin said, disgusted.

"You wouldn't have asked me for my login unless you had someone smart enough to track down – now let me guess – the IP addresses of those other bidders? He or she should be smart enough to cover up the tracks to a simple edit of a warrant." Noshimuri stared them down with the cockiness of a man who knew he'd just won. "I know you need this. It's not rocket science with that NSA agent hanging around."

Danny was beyond wanting to remodel the wall with his fists. "So that whole spiel about honor was bullshit?"

"No, Detective," Noshimuri replied. "I'm here negotiating, am I not?"

_**28hrs:18mins remaining**_

Danny stormed down the hall and found Khalid talking on his cell in the bullpen.

Looking up, the agent quickly ended the call and met Danny halfway. "What's the word?"

"All the IP addresses are on there. Punjab, Pakistan. Tegal, Indonesia. Pyongyang, North Korea. Aden, Yemen. And Homs, Syria." Danny threw a flash drive at Khalid. "The auction is up to three point four million."

"How did you–?"

"I have a guy."

"A guy?"

"Yep. We brought him in over half an hour ago."

Danny could play games, too. Even if his _expert_ had a record and reeked of pot.

Khalid gripped the flash drive. "Thank you. I'll update my supervisor and give this to my team."

"Fan-freaking-tastic." Danny seethed, his nerves fried. "I'm glad we've been able to keep the NSA busy so that the rest of us can actually focus on finding the guy who's been kidnapped and set up to be sold to the highest fucking bidder." He stomped right up to Khalid, breathing hard. "Do you think we could make that happen, _Agent?_"

"Yes, we can. Because my people found a lead."

Danny's heart raced fast and loud in his ears. "You did?"

"I did, Danny. Let's get your team together."

_**27hrs:37mins remaining**_

Tension and anxiety were off the Richter scale as they all stood in front of the magic table.

"This is the footage that our surveillance picked up less than thirty minutes ago," Khalid explained. "Facial recognition is seventy-three percent positive the man in this photo is Ivan Maslov."

The screen revealed a man dressed in a dark suit, sitting in the passenger seat of an SUV, smoking a cigarette. Danny walked right up to the plasma, squinting at the fuzzy features.

"Where was this taken?" he asked.

"Outside an exotic tobacco dealer off Kau Belt Road," Khalid said, peering studiously at the screen.

Danny snapped his fingers. "Cloves. The bastard reeked of clove cigarettes."

"Those were banned years ago," Chin said. "But you can still buy them from some shady places 'under the counter', especially if the location is on native land."

"I'm checking for warehouses, buildings, or any place that Maslov might feel comfortable running a base of operations out of," Kono told them.

Danny's heart sped up and he leaned his hands on the table, trying to catch his breath. Maslov was still on the island, which meant so was Steve. They still had a chance of finding him.

"We're already scanned satellite imagery." Khalid never took his eyes off the plasma screen. "Maslov would pick a place with multiple entrances and exits, maybe even a place for a helicopter to land. The structure would be obscured from view but have several lines of sight for incoming vehicles."

"All right," Kono said, typing everything in. "Narrowing down parameters."

"We've already done that, too." Khalid pulled up Google maps. "We've narrowed things down to an abandoned industrial park eight miles southwest, a sugar refinery closed for renovations ten miles northeast, and a cement factory six miles east."

Chin gave Danny a look of exasperation before turning toward Khalid. "You said _we _have satellite imagery?"

"I'm getting us synced-in with the boys at Pearl-Hickam," Khalid told them, his fingers flashing across the keyboard. "We'll see what they see."

Images popped up on three screens, all showing various colored blobs, a grid with numbers and degrees dissecting them. Danny had used thermal imagery before but it was still hard knowing exactly what he was viewing. He knew red and oranges were heat signatures, but thus far, nothing on screen indicated there were people at any of the locations.

He pressed his fingernails into the magic table until they turned white, his gaze frozen.

Khalid plugged in an earwig and monitored the rapidly changing images. "Location Alpha is negative for targets."

"Location Alpha? Who are you talking to?" Danny demanded.

Khalid waved him off with a 'not now' gesture.

Danny made a noise low in his throat and Kono shot him an anxious expression as she rubbed her hand over her thigh. This was an active op.

"Location Bravo has..." Khalid paused, pressing hard at his earwig. "They have scattered heat signatures – searching for human targets." He shook his head. "Location Bravo is a negative as well."

That left the far right screen. Was it the sugar plant? There were numerous large and encompassing buildings. Blues, greens, and blacks merged and shifted together. But nothing human.

Chin walked up to the plasma screen, eyes crinkled in concentration. He stood with his hands clenched into fists at his side. The complex was huge, but the faster the images scrolled over, the more his friend vibrated with tension.

Khalid pressed his earwig, his face scrunching. "Location Charlie is a negative for targets." Looking dejected, he plucked out his earwig. "I'm sorry, guys."

Chin stared at the blank screens with his shoulders slumped.

Kono looked from Khalid to the screens and back down to her computer, face determined. "That was what? Three locations? We should expand the search. I'm sure there are other locations that fit the profile and maybe some that don't."

"I'm sure my team is on it," Khalid said offhandedly.

"But we're not!" Kono reminded him.

Khalid didn't argue, apparently unwilling to engage because of the high emotions in the air. "Of course. Between both our teams, I'm sure we'll discover additional locations."

Knowing the resources of the NSA, they'd just tracked down the three most probable locations. Which meant Maslov wasn't near his home base when he'd been jonesin' for a new pack of smokes.

"We should send someone to interview the people at the tobacco shop," Danny said.

"My guys are already on it," Khalid answered, unaware that Danny wasn't talking to him.

And that really grated on him – on top of the cloak and dagger bullshit and the heavy fog of distrust, of filling them all with hope and popping them with the pin of failure. Five-0 was Steve's team; everyone else was supposed to be backup.

Danny whirled on Khalid. "Your guys are _on it?_ On what? Sitting on you hands? What about the other ten thousand cameras on the island? Widen the damn search by using that fancy Chrysalis system you've been so kind to share with us. Oh, wait a minute. That's right. You never shared that little piece of info with us!"

"My team's trying."

"Try harder damn it!" Danny yelled. "Use all those spy satellites and every other top secret gadget you're not telling us about!"

Then he stomped out of the bullpen and into Chin's office.

_**25hrs:49mins remaining**_

Toast didn't look up at Danny when he slammed close the door, huffing and breathing like a bull moose. Toast's nose pointed down at Noshimuri's laptop as he blew out a puff of smoke from the cigarette dangling from his lips. "Nothing's changed, dude."

"Time?" Danny demanded.

Toast stared at Danny in confusion.

"Time, damn it! How much longer until the auction ends?"

"Oh, sorry." Toast checked the laptop and looked back up at Danny. "Um. Twenty-five hours."

Twenty-five hours until Steve was sold like some prized pig; no, a prized weapon to the highest bidder. Fuck.

Danny's nose itched and his eyes burned. "Put that cigarette out."

Toast stabbed the cigarette in an ashtray already halfway full. He stretched his arms above his head and brushed some ash off his Star Wars t-shirt. "Look, dude, I know ya stressed and all, but ease up, will ya? You pulled me out of my house after thirty-six hours of straight campaigning. My league was just about to launch a surprise attack on–"

"I don't care what Dungeons and Dragons–"

"Skyrim, dude."

Danny swore he could feel the blood vessels inside his head burst. His whole body shaking, he closed his eyes and willed the spirit of everything Zen to keep him from performing bodily harm on the idiotic stoner.

"Toast," he grit out with his eyes closed. "Did you get anything else? Anything at all?"

"Sorry, man. I can't get a bead on the IP source. It's being bounced around the world like a pinball. There was another bid an hour ago. Tracked it down to Bogota, Columbia."

Danny opened his eyes. "That doesn't help."

Sighing, Toast pulled out a stick of gum and undid the foil wrapper. "I did find another vid file. It was uploaded to the server but wasn't made available for viewing. Not sure why. They could be saving it for a viewing later."

"Let me see it," Danny said, walking over.

Toast chewed his gum. "You sure?"

"Why? Did you see it already?" Danny snapped.

"Nah, dude. I just, you know. Freaking vids by terrorists aren't top on my list of things to watch, if ya know what I mean?"

Danny sighed; he was so freaking exhausted. "Don't argue with me."

Deep inside, Danny knew he should get the others, but he wanted to see it first. Steve was his partner, his responsibility. His best friend.

Toast hit a few keys and sat back away from the screen. Danny swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry as he slid into the chair. Like ripping off a band-aid, he quickly hit play.

The footage began the same: heavy breathing behind the camera with someone speaking off in the distance. The camera operator answered back in another language and unlocked the door. There was yelling in the room this time. The camera focused on the bed frame then audible cursing followed, the view dropping toward the floor before jerking back up.

Danny's heart was in his throat as he watched. Steve was awake this time – and fighting. The camera didn't focus on anything for too long, as if the operator wasn't sure where to direct the lens. Steve jerked his feet and yanked on the cuffs that kept his ankles in place.

"Fools! What is this? I thought you gave him another dose?" the camera operator yelled.

"We did!" a man yelled in response.

The camera guy growled. "Then you're not mixing it right, you idiot!"

The video bounced up and down before settling on the bed frame again. Steve thrashed around, and Danny could see him yank on his wrists so hard, it was bound to dislocate his joints.

"Partner, just hang on," Danny whispered to the screen, heart thudding in his chest.

Danny heard Steve yell something, but it wasn't in English.

"Neol jug-yeobeo li gess-eo!"

Steve flailed and kicked, the metal frame scraping over the cement floor. But it was a panicked, frenzied kind of energy and anger. And the more glimpses Danny caught, the more he realized Steve was still drugged to the gills.

The camera zoomed on Steve's face. "Smile, Commander."

Steve snapped his head in the direction of the sound, straining his neck, but it was as if he couldn't see the speaker. He yelled again, his voice strangled and hoarse. "Show yourself!"

The camera operator stepped closer until another voice warned him off. "Don't get too close – the bastard broke my nose earlier."

That made Danny smile. "Good for you, buddy."

"Increase the dose," the voice said.

"But..."

"Sdelaĭ eto!" the camera guy shouted back at the guy out of view.

Danny sucked in a breath as the clip ended suddenly and he grabbed the mouse, clicking to see if there was anything else. But there wasn't any more and he felt a hole inside him widen. Surveillance footage, videos, would these be the last images he'd ever see of Steve?

"You, um...okay, dude?" Toast asked.

"No, I'm not," Danny said, heading toward the door to go find the others.


	3. Chapter 3

_**24hrs:43mins remaining**_

Danny watched in the corner as Chin and Kono viewed the video in stoic silence.

"I'll transfer a copy of this to my team," Khalid said after it was done.

Danny stewed and berated himself for not doing something, hunting someone down.

Chin kept his expression neutral, but his voice was a throaty growl. "Sounds like they're trying to keep Steve sedated with some pharmaceutical cocktail."

"Obviously they didn't get the memo that Steve's not human and normal rules don't apply to him," Danny mumbled.

But Danny couldn't help imagining the terror of being drugged and strapped down to a freaking bed. Unable to move or to think clearly, lost in a haze of darkness and paranoia. He'd go out of his damn mind. Because it was obvious Steve wasn't under the influence of ketamine anymore, not the way he was fighting.

"I wonder what McGarrett yelled?" Khalid asked, perplexed.

Kono gnawed at her bottom lip. "He said, 'I'm going to kill you' in Korean."

Chin looked away and Kono's expression turned even more focused. Danny scrubbed a hand wearily over his face. Was Steve lost in the memories of Wo Fat's bunker?

Danny pushed off the wall; he wanted to pace, but there wasn't any room and that only kindled the flames of anger. "Where are we at?"

Chin must have sensed Danny's need for them to be making more progress. "I traced Maslov's flight plan to Oahu from LA, but there's nothing before that. We have no idea how he arrived in the States."

"And we still have no idea how he plans on leaving?" Danny asked.

"He doesn't travel alone," Khalid told them. "He has a small and loyal security detail."

"Okay, so we're talking three or four people," Chin said. "Does he plan on transporting Steve to the buyers?"

"That would be a positron."

Everyone in the room stared at Toast, who lounged around on the leather office sofa.

"Do what?" Kono demanded.

"Said right there in the terms and conditions," Toast mumbled while twirling a stupid lollipop between his teeth. "They, meaning your bad guys, will transport McGarrett to any international country once the buyer's funds are verified. But the exact location for the exchange will be decided by the seller. Meaning your bad guy."

"That rules out commercial airlines under a fake passport," Chin said.

Danny nodded. "Means a private plane or boat. Okay, okay. This leads us back to searching for this asshole's home base."

"We're narrowing down another list of locations and Chrysalis is still actively searching for Maslov," Khalid told them, putting on a confident front. "If we get a hit, we'll have a team on him."

_**23hrs:12mins remaining**_

The NSA narrowed down six more locations, and in two hours, those locations were dismissed using satellite imagery. Two of the targets included human heat signatures, but a drone verified that it was not Maslov or his men. Danny still sent HPD to double check, but the last unit returned thirty minutes ago, corroborating the drone's findings. No Maslov or Steve, just some kids and surfers.

Sitting behind his desk, Danny went over locations within close proximity of the exotic tobacco store. Thus far, they'd focused on abandoned buildings, but now he searched for anything that fit the NSA profile. Maybe Maslov had rented a place or set up shop somewhere right under their noses. Khalid was right – it had to be somewhere with several escape routes and a good view of the street.

That left dozens of businesses and expensive residences. Maslov also could have broken into one of many mansions on the island, several of them with acres of land with access to the ocean.

He blinked and stared at his own handwriting, unable to read it, and threw his pen down in frustration.

"Perhaps taking a few minutes to eat might help, Daniel."

Danny looked up in surprise at the familiar voice. "Rachel. What are you doing here? Is Grace–"

"She's fine. Everyone's fine," Rachel said, walking inside just as Danny shot to his feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Damn," Danny muttered, wiping a hand over his face. Narrowing his eyes, he couldn't help a small smile at the Tupperware in Rachel's hands. "Did you bring me dinner?"

Rachel matched his smile. "Ziti, salad, and fresh ciabatta bread. Helen made dinner tonight and I thought I'd bring you the leftovers."

"It's dinnertime already?"

"It's almost eight at night," Rachel admonished, laying the Tupperware down. She studied him with a frown. "You look exhausted."

"Yeah, well, I don't have time for exhaustion."

Rachel started pulling utensils out of a brown paper bag. "But you'll make time to eat. Everything's still warm."

Danny didn't realize how hungry he was until the aroma of fresh garlic and basil assailed him. "Thank you. This is...unexpected."

"I like Steve. He's a good man and I know you're working really hard searching for him."

Danny shoved in a forkful of pasta and chewed because he didn't want to have this conversation right now.

Rachel nervously smoothed down her turquoise skirt and wandered around the office, gazing at the framed pictures and various awards on the wall.

"You're antsy," Danny said around a mouth of ziti. "You're never antsy."

Rachel folded her hands in front of her. "I told Grace what happened."

Her admission took a second to register. "You did what? Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because you didn't call her last night or _today."_

"I meant to!" He snapped. "By the time I realized I missed talking to her, it was past her bedtime. But that wasn't a reason to upset her!"

Rachel placed her hands on her hips. "Would you rather she hear about it on the news?"

"It's not going to be in the news."

"But given he is the head of the governor's task force–"

"The media doesn't know and we're trying to keep it that way. If the press found out..."

Rachel frowned, obviously upset. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know the situation was–"

"Was what? So serious?"

"No, of course not," Rachel said, defensively. "I just wasn't aware there was a blackout. Wouldn't it help if the public were made aware? Open up one of those tip lines?"

"No," Danny sighed. He didn't have the energy to explain things. "It's complicated."

"You said you were up against a deadline?"

"We are and if we don't find him before then..."

Danny wouldn't say it. He couldn't. There was a good possibility that Steve would be sold and moved completely out of reach and they didn't have a single plan in place. Nothing. Five-0 would be powerless to do anything and the NSA would completely take over. And then what?

"How did Grace react?" he asked, switching the subject. "And what exactly _did_ you tell her?"

"That he went missing and we think some bad men took him."

"Rachel," he hissed. "You shouldn't have–"

"I didn't want have to explain anything to her on her birthday just in case..."

Danny shoved the baked ziti away and she placed a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry." She went over to him tentatively took one of his hands. "I know you'll find him. Just like you found Grace."

"God, I hope so," he whispered back.

_**22hrs:35mins remaining**_

Kono caught up to Danny on his way to brew a new pot of coffee. They worked in sync preparing the needed caffeine fix to get them through the night. He dumped the old grounds; she refilled the water. Danny hovered, waiting on the coffee to brew while out of the corner of his eye, he watched Khalid wear a path in the linoleum while on his cell.

"I saw Rachel leave. Everything okay?" Kono asked none too subtly.

"Yeah, she was just worried." Something ached deep in his chest and he tried not to think about what-ifs concerning Rachel. He caught Kono watching him and he sighed. "She brought me dinner. There's still enough for a snack if you want it."

"Maybe later. That was nice of her to stop by."

Danny nodded, trying not to be distracted by Khalid, who was talking animatedly on the phone.

"Did you catch any of that?" Danny asked Kono, jerking his head in Khalid's direction.

Kono blew over her mug of coffee. "Not much. Anytime I got nearby, he walked to the far end of the room. It's been pretty intense, whatever it is."

She zoned out, staring at her coffee.

Danny rubbed his hand lightly on her shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

Kono didn't meet his eyes. "It doesn't matter, does it?" Taking a breath, she looked at him. "What about you? Granting that little favor earlier couldn't have been easy?"

"Going to North Korea, that's not easy. Switching a number around." He shrugged. "Piece of cake."

"I've got to leave for a little while," Khalid informed them as he walked over.

"Leave?" Danny had to be hearing things. "Where the hell do you have to be?"

Khalid ran his fingers through his tussled hair, a nervous tick Danny had picked up on. "I've got to report to Pearl-Hickam and meet with my team."

"What happened?" Danny demanded.

"Nothing." Khalid tried to reassure them and failed miserably. "But there are certain conversations that I can't have over the phone. I have to bring my team up to speed and plan our next strategy face to face."

That set off a million alarm bells. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Nothing," Khalid growled in frustration. "This isn't the time for paranoia. Our window to locate Commander McGarrett is closing and I need to discuss things with my team. They're the best analysts in the intelligence community."

"But how will we reach you?" Kono snapped.

"I'll just be a call away."

"Right," Danny said with an eye roll. "And I'm sure you'll be easily available."

"I'll be back by the morning." Khalid checked his Rolex. "I've got to go; someone from HPD is giving me a lift out there."

Danny stepped in front of Khalid. "If I learn that you did anything to obstruct this investigation, or that you and your little James Bond wannabes cut us out of the loop, I will spend every spare second of every day ruining your life. I'll make it a living hell no matter how many miles separate us."

"I told you, Danny, I'm on your side." Khalid rolled down his sleeves and pulled his cufflinks out of his pockets. "I want to find McGarrett _and_ Maslov."

With that, Agent Khalid marched into the bullpen and snagged his suit jacket off the back of a chair.

"Do you believe him?" Kono asked Danny.

"Honestly? I don't know."

Danny watched Khalid walk out of HQ and he couldn't shake the feeling that Steve's chances of being found in time had left with him.

_**21hrs:25mins remaining**_

Burning the midnight oil on a case wasn't anything new, but he hadn't had enough time for a full recharge since Grace's kidnapping a few weeks ago. His skin felt dry and brittle, his head pounded, but it didn't matter because he had to keep plowing along. Keep working.

"Hey," Chin said, coming over. "This package arrived for Steve earlier today but I forgot about it. I thought you should keep it for him."

Steve didn't receive packages, mostly just official correspondence. Danny turned the box over in confusion and read the logo and return address. "The Yba Dojo?"

"I think you should open it."

"Why?"

Chin sighed in frustration. "Just open it."

Curious, Danny removed the tape and pulled open the flaps. Inside was a child's size black t-shirt, pants, and a set of hand wraps. Totally baffled, he read a letter welcoming Grace to the Yba Dojo for her first year of Krav Maga training.

"What the hell?"

"I think that's what Steve got Grace for her birthday."

Danny blinked. "Karate lessons?"

"I think he'd flinch hearing you say that," Chin smiled. "Krav Maga is a self-defense system designed by the Israelis."

"It's what?" Danny looked up in shock.

"It's noncompetitive, brah."

"My baby is not going learn how to be some ninja! What the hell was he thinking?"

"It emphasizes street fighting skills." Chin pulled out the workout pants with pride. "After what happened with Rick Peterson, he told me he wanted her to feel empowered."

Danny gripped the tiny uniform, imagining Grace pulling off some crazy kick with an ecstatic grin. Despite his better judgment, his lips curved at the image. Then his breath hitched, trapped by the tightness of his chest when it felt like an elephant sat on it. He still had his daughter. She was alive and whole and happy.

His hands shook.

"Goddamn it," he choked.

Chin wrapped an arm around Danny's shoulder while he brought the tiny t-shirt to chest. "After I yell at him for trying to convert my daughter into an assassin, remind me to thank the lughead."

Chin laughed. "Something tells me I won't have to."

_**18hrs:12mins remaining**_

Danny didn't remember falling asleep on the leather sofa in his office; the last few hours had been a jumble of fruitless searches and discussions. Something woke him and he sat up with a groan, knocking a file off his lap in the process.

He blinked, clearing his vision when he heard a knock.

"You awake?" Chin asked, pushing open the door.

"Yeah, yeah. God. Why did you let me fall asleep?" Danny growled, getting to his feet.

"You needed a couple hours, but we have a situation."

At the word 'situation', Danny fumbled after Chin into the hall and toward the bullpen. "What time is it?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"A little after four in the morning," Chin said, handing him a cup of coffee.

Danny took the offered Styrofoam cup, his stomach churning at the prospect of another caffeine jolt on such little sleep. He stumbled after Chin, noticing Catherine standing a few feet away, her face washed with anxiety. He was really off his game if it took him this long to notice her. It seemed like all the stress had finally taken its toll because she wasn't able to hide her worry under that cool naval officer facade anymore. The three of them waited in tense silence while Kono finished talking on the phone.

"That was Sergeant Benson," Kono said, walking over. "HPD completed searching our new list of locations, but they didn't find any sign of Maslov."

Another twelve locations. Another twelve needles in a giant haystack. They'd have more luck throwing darts at map.

"So, what's the situation?" Danny asked, looking directly at Catherine.

"As you know, Agent Khalid's team have been brainstorming ways to locate both Maslov and Steve," Catherine began. "But with the window closing, new orders have been sent down the chain of command regarding backup contingency plans if we can't find them before the auction ends."

"Backup plans?" Chin snorted. "Maybe if Five-0 had been kept in the loop we wouldn't need any."

"Ivan Maslov is a high value target," Catherine addressed him. "And as such, it's always been the number one priority to capture him alive. But if there is a chance that he might get away, then a kill order has been issued for the mission."

"Maslov's wanted dead or alive," Kono shrugged. "That doesn't sound too out of the ordinary."

Catherine held her body stiffly. "The NSA has also authorized whatever force is necessary to eliminate any threats Maslov poses to national security."

Things started to click for Danny in a very scary, paranoid way. "And that means?"

"It means if SEAL Team Four is unable to rescue Steve, they must ensure he doesn't fall into enemy hands."

Danny felt his face drain of color in absolute horror.

"What?" Kono gasped.

Catherine swallowed. "Walls have gone up on all aspects of this operation and I left when I was strongly encouraged by a friend to make myself scarce. Before I got in serious trouble."

Danny found it hard to breath. "Not only are we dealing with super terrorists, but now our own government isn't even on the same freaking side as us?"

"The NSA can't allow–"

Danny's world went red.

"Don't! Don't you dare defend this insanity!" he snarled at Catherine. "No matter what angle you look at, it isn't right to kill someone because rescuing them proves too much of a _challenge_! Steve's not collateral damage. He's not a risk assessment. Just because he became a SEAL doesn't mean he gave up the right to be treated like someone worth saving!"

His harsh breathing shattered the silence, and when Danny's heart finally slowed down, he saw the same fury reflected in Kono and Chin's faces.

"I wasn't defending the NSA," Catherine spoke up, standing her ground. "I've been in their shoes before. So has Steve." She held her head high. "But that doesn't mean we have to follow their playbook."

"Then we'll write a new one," Chin said.

"And we'll find Steve on our own," Danny told them.

_**17hrs:27mins remaining**_

Toast cradled his head with both his hands. "Dude. Seriously? What's with being kept prisoner, huh? I already did what you wanted me to. I can't track down the IP address of the guy holding that sick auction. I'm good, but even I can't trace something bounced over a thousand times from the original source." Toast held up his hands. "My services have been rendered and I wanna go home."

"No one's allowed to go home until we find Steve. You got it?"

"All right, dude. Take it easy."

Danny blew out a frustrated breath. "Sorry." Rubbing at his temples, he went for a different approach. "Look. Since when do you let a computer beat you at your own game?"

"Since I was hauled into Five-0 headquarters. I have a rep to uphold, man. Besides, I have other obligations."

"Rep? What rep? You gave up!" Danny mocked. "What would your hacker friends think?"

Toast rolled his eyes. "My rep speaks for itself. Online where it counts."

"And what if I gave you a way to improve it?"

"At six in the morning?"

"Fine," Danny huffed, headed to the door. "I'll go find someone else who would like to hack into the NSA's most important surveillance program."

"Whoa, hold up," Toast said, jumping to his feet, suddenly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. "Are you talking Chrysalis, man?"

"Maybe," Danny said casually. "But you need your beauty sleep, so I'll–"

"No way. If you can get me into Chrysalis..."

"Call it more like leading you down the yellow brick road. I can show where we were logged in last."

Cracking his knuckles, Toast spread his hands wide. "Then take me to see the Wizard, man."

_**17hrs:07mins remaining**_

"Can I get a Red Bull or something?" Toast asked, looking up from the laptop in the bullpen.

"It's seven in the morning, dude," Kono snorted.

"And your point?" Toast went back to typing and mumbling under his breath. "Okay, thanks to the fact that you guys don't have good security and that your NSA friend didn't cover his tracks well when he logged into the NSA server, I can see what they're tracking."

"That simple, huh?" Danny asked.

"No, man," Toast snorted. "I gave ya the dumb downed version."

"However you did it," Chin said. "Now we won't be in the dark."

"But that still doesn't help us find McGarrett," Kono pointed out. "Even if the NSA locates Maslov, they'll roll out a SEAL team much faster than we could ever reach him."

"Then we need to be one step ahead of them," Catherine said, crossing in her arms.

"That's easier said than done," Chin told her. "We need to know where Maslov is before they do."

"And it's not like he's advertising his location," Danny sighed.

"You could always win the auction," Toast suggested.

All four heads in the room spun around at the same time. Toast glanced up from his screen. "Wouldn't that be the easiest thing to do? Be the highest bidder and go get your guy?"

"Could that really work?" Kono asked, wide-eyed.

"Why not?" Chin said, his face bright with enthusiasm. "It keeps McGarrett on the island and Maslov provides us with an address that leads us right to him."

"Okay, but wouldn't this require us to be able to bid?" Danny asked, pinching the bride of his nose, because really. Why hadn't they thought of this before?

"Bid and win," Chin answered. "And we need Noshimuri to do it for us."

"And not only win, but agree to complete the transaction in person," Danny told them.

_**14hrs:52mins remaining**_

Adam Noshimuri wasn't anywhere to be found.

"I've got BOLOs out on Noshimuri's vehicles and there's four units searching for him," Chin said, entering the bullpen where Danny was standing.

"Where the hell is he?" Danny was at the end of his rope.

Chin shook his head. "I don't know. He must have slipped out during the morning shift change. It's not like he was under arrest."

"I should have locked him up in a holding cell," Danny seethed.

"Duke went to his home and business, but he wasn't there. Kono's coordinating things with HPD and Catherine is reaching out to a few of her people for help," Chin said calmly.

They were skating too close to the edge of the cliff.

Danny paced in a small circle. "Could we place a bid without him?"

"Not without providing a source of funds as proof of payment."

"Maybe Toast can do something?"

"I asked," Chin said, shooting down the idea. "He said he wouldn't even know where to start and you couldn't pay him enough money to mess with the Yakuza."

"But terrorists are okay?" Danny ran a hand through his hair. "We have to find Noshimuri."

"And without tipping off the NSA at the same time," Chin reminded him. "I told Duke not to raise any red flags."

"What time is it?"

"Eight A.M." That late already? Chin's mouth twitched. "Have you heard anything from Khalid?"

Danny wiped away beads of sweat from his forehead. "Not a damn word."

_**11hrs:28mins remaining**_

The smell of breakfast made Danny nauseous. He skipped the plates of eggs and hash browns someone had spread onto a folding table. He grabbed two biscuits and drank a glass of orange juice because he couldn't stomach another cup of coffee.

How the hell was he helping by standing around? He should be pounding the pavement or busting skulls. Steve would have set fire to half the island by now.

Adam Noshimuri was toying with them. The guy knew the stakes and he'd manipulated Five-0 for optimal gain.

"He's probably right under our noses," Danny muttered to himself.

Then the gut that'd served him his entire life told him what to do. He scanned HQ. Chin was with Toast and Kono had fallen asleep in her office. She deserved a nap.

Danny checked the safety of his Sig and went toward his car. No computer could ever match a cop's instincts.

_**8hrs:58mins remaining**_

He gunned the engine right up the iron gate and identified himself at the intercom.

_"Mr. Noshimuri isn't available, sir."_

Danny ignored the security guards with Uzis a few feet away.

"I have grenades in my car; if you don't open sesame, then I'll blow my way inside," he yelled back.

The gates opened.

The noontime sun burned hot on his back as he waltzed up the driveway. A posse of guards armed to the teeth actually escorted him to the door and took him inside.

Inside a grand foyer, Noshimuri lounged in a large leather chair, sipping tea.

"Did you miss my company, Detective?" Noshimuri asked, brushing lint off his burgundy shirt.

"I know you've been hiding out in plain sight. It's not like HPD can search the premises."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about." Noshimuri feigned ignorance. "I told you I'd remain as long as I could. Was there something else you needed?"

"Yeah, come back to Five-0 headquarters."

"Believe it or not, I have do have a full schedule. I'm not at your beck and call."

"Either come peacefully or in cuffs. Your choice."

"Such hostility." Noshimuri quirked his mouth. "And here I thought we were new allies."

"We're nothing of the sort," Danny grit out.

"Are you not here for another business arrangement?"

Danny smiled with all his teeth. "You're like a drug peddler, aren't you? Teasing out your help. The laptop was free. Then the login, that was a small fee."

"And now you're here for the big score."

Here it was. No more dancing around.

"You know what we need from you."

"The thought had crossed my mind." Noshimuri considered Danny for a moment. "For over ten years, Ivan has evaded arrest. What made Five-0 think they'd find him in a few days? You need me to win the auction, and if I'm not mistaken, conduct the transaction."

Danny's whole body vibrated with tension as Adam casually sipped his tea. "That about sums it up."

"I think I could make such arrangements, but it'll cost you."

Danny knew this was coming. "What would that be?"

"There's a certain money laundering investigation I need you to sink."

"Are you insane?" Danny snapped, eyes bulging. "You want me to obstruct an investigation into one of the biggest criminal organizations on the island. One that happens to be the governor's new pet project?"

"And it must be no secret that my cooperation wouldn't come cheap." Noshimuri dabbed his mouth with a cloth napkin. "Do you know how many countries follow the rules of the Geneva Conventions? Not that it matters when it comes to terrorists. They consider water boarding foreplay. No, their methods for extracting information tend to lean—medieval."

"Shut up!"

"I'm well aware of the prowess of SEALs. And rightly so. They are, after all, among some of the most highly trained military personnel in the world. But tell me." Noshimuri licked his lips in thought. "How many days without sleep do you think McGarrett could endure before he started to break? How many weeks without food? Or days without water?"

Danny's whole body trembled in rage. "I said, shut up."

"I have associates, those who work for other people," Noshimuri continued without missing a beat. "They tell me terrible, terrible things. How to drill holes in the body to cause the most pain without death. What the maximum amount of electricity one could use to–"

Danny pulled out his Sig and shoved it under Noshimuri's chin. "Not another word," he spat, digging a hand into Noshimuri's shoulder. "You listen to me, you sick sonofabitch. You're going to win that auction and you're going to do it with a smile. You hear me?"

At least six weapons were pointed in Danny's direction, but Noshimuri signaled his guards to back away. "Take it easy; Detective Williams is under a lot of stress."

"Stressed isn't even the half of it."

"The choice is yours. Make a deal with the devil or pull the trigger. But without me, Commander McGarrett will probably be thrown in such a deep hole, you'll never find him."

Danny curled his finger around the trigger, could feel it move millimeter by millimeter.

"It's just numbers in a bank account," Noshimuri crooned. "Ones and zeroes or your partner."

_**07hrs:41mins remaining**_

"Where the hell have you been?" Chin demanded the moment Danny entered the bullpen.

"Following a hunch," Danny non-answered.

"A hunch? You leave without telling anyone? Don't answer your phone? What? Steve's not here so you have to start acting like him?"

A painful ache flared in Danny's chest at being on the opposite side of such a very familiar argument and he breathed harshly through his nose.

"I know, but I didn't return empty-handed." Danny jerked his head behind him. "You waiting for an invitation?"

Noshimuri stepped out of the corridor where he'd stood observing.

"You found him," Chin said, taken aback

"He was sitting at home like Little Miss Muffett." Danny resisted the urge to frog march Noshimuri toward the laptop and handcuff him to the table. "He's agreed to win the auction and complete the transaction in person."

"He has?" Chin asked suspiciously.

"He did," Danny said, tight lipped. He ignored Chin's narrowed eyes and glanced at Noshimuri with impatience. "What are we waiting for?"

Noshimuri flicked his wrist to check his watch. "Obviously, you're new at this. We have plenty of time."

_**07hrs:03mins remaining**_

He could feel Kono and Chin's eyes on him, but Danny ignored them both.

"There are ten bids now," Noshimuri said, studying the screen. "Who has the highest one?"

Toast looked at Danny for confirmation that it was okay to answer. Danny nodded.

"Qatif, Saudi Arabia."

Noshimuri leaned back in his chair and flicked his eyes at Danny and started typing. "The price has gone over three million."

"That's chump change for a guy like you," Danny mocked.

"Only those who do not value money allow themselves to believe that." It only took a few minutes before the head of the Yakuza relaxed in his seat. "I'm the top bidder. We'll see how long it lasts."

"It doesn't matter, because you're staying here to ensure you win this sick thing," Danny told him.

"Even I have limits to how much I'm willing to risk," Noshimuri warned.

"Don't you remember our talk?" Danny needled the man. "You're all in on this."

_**06hrs:49mins remaining**_

Chin and Kono ambushed him on the way to the men's room. Chin even blocked the door.

"Hey?" Danny growled. "Can't I take a leak before you gang up on me?"

"No," Chin said. He didn't budge.

"What did you do?" Kono asked.

"Made a deal."

Chin grit his teeth. "What kind?"

Danny's bladder was about to explode. "Does it matter? It's done. I made it."

"Without talking to us first!" Chin threw up his hands.

"Both of you would have made the same decision," Danny growled. "Now, neither of you are involved."

"Like hell," Kono said.

"Look," Danny sighed. "What's done is done. Now, could I please take a piss?"

"Not until you tell us what you agreed to," Chin said, crossing his arms.

Danny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm getting Toast to corrupt the algorithm Steve developed to analyze the Tong's money laundering operation." Chin closed his eyes and slumped against the wall. "Without Steve's program, it'll either derail the whole investigation or stall it in enough time for the Tong to pull all their assets and transfer them elsewhere." Danny bowed his head, unable to look them either in the eye. "And it's untraceable. We'll have to say it's an error with Steve's coding."

"Danny," Kono whispered.

"It was either the investigation or Steve," Danny hissed. "I didn't have a choice! And if anyone finds out, I'll pay the price."

"No," Chin said, pushing off the wall. "The three of us will. We're in this together. No arguments."

_**05hrs:19mins remaining**_

Danny stared at Noshimuri as the man pondered the vending machine, wishing he could barter him for Steve. Certainly, the head of the Yakuza would make a good trade.

Then he mentally kicked himself. The guy wasn't even in the same league as his partner.

"What's the matter, Detective? You afraid I'm going to steal the last Twinkie?"

"Why help the Tong?" Danny asked. Between exhaustion and stress, he'd lost the filter between his brain and mouth. "I mean, it's no secret you guys would rather take each other out. You owe them something...or is it the other way around? You want them to be in your debt?"

Noshimuri popped in his quarters. "This deal puts me in a position to do something that I've long sought after." Snagging a snack, he glanced up at Danny. "I didn't lie to you when I said I was doing this for honor. But for the level of risk involved, I needed a sweetener."

"Where's the risk in this for you?"

Noshimuri smiled like a Buddha. "There is none – for me. Someone once said, 'Let my enemies devour each other.' McGarrett would agree; wouldn't you?"

_**03hrs:39mins remaining**_

He loathed waiting. Lines at the grocery store, gas stations. Banks. He couldn't stand banks. _But this_. Waiting on a clock to run out was pure torture.

Danny felt like he was running on fumes. That didn't stop him from pacing and bouncing off the walls. He was on his third circuit of wandering aimlessly when he spotted Catherine through the window of Steve's office. She'd shed her camo shirt, leaving the blue tee underneath.

He forced himself to open the door despite the guilt eating him up inside. "Hey."

Catherine startled at the noise. "Oh, hey."

"How are you holding up?"

"About the same. Sadly, I can't say this is new to me." At Danny's confused expression, she chuckled sarcastically. "I meant the waiting in the dark, not the whole kidnapping and international auction part."

Her words clawed at his nerves.

"I'm so sorry, Catherine. I..."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Danny. You didn't take Steve."

"No, but he gave himself up because of me." He wiped at his eyes to keep the moisture at bay. "He did it for my daughter. My Monkey."

"Maybe he did," Catherine said, not mincing words. "But that's who Steve is and that's never going to change."

_**02hrs:22mins remaining**_

Danny stormed inside the office when he heard Noshimuri had been outbid by someone in Indonesia.

"Why are you just sitting there?" he demanded.

"During the last laps of a race, you never go all out," he said while reading the paper. "You hang back and let the others waste all their energy."

"No one wants to hear you rattle off Asian philosophy from desktop calendars!"

Noshimuri folded the paper in his lap. "I know what I'm doing. We'll wait."

_**01hrs:06mins remaining**_

Danny tore through his office, jerked open the bottom drawer of his desk, and dumped all the contents onto the floor.

"Come on, come on, I know I have something in here."

"Hey, heads up."

Danny caught the bottle of Tylenol before it bonked him on the head. "Thanks."

Kono shrugged. "Figured I knew what you were looking for when you starting ripping things apart."

He tapped out two and tried to remember the last time he ate. It didn't really matter if he took them with food, but it went with how little he'd kept up with things like eating and sleeping.

"I had to get out of that room," Kono said, pacing nervously.

"Yeah, I couldn't stomach it much either."

That didn't stop Kono from checking her watch. "We've got under an hour now."

Danny grabbed his lukewarm bottle of water and swallowed the pills. "Guess we're nearing the finish line."

Kono rubbed the back of her neck. "You want to go back in?"

"We can't make time go any faster," Danny said glibly. "But maybe we should. At least it'll make me feel like we're getting closer."

_**32mins remaining**_

"Make the damn bid!" Danny yelled.

"I don't want to show my hand yet," Noshimuri said calmly.

But Danny couldn't help it. What if this was all part of the game? What if Noshimuri planned on waiting until the last minute just so he could pull the rug out from under them?

It was a good thing that Chin insisted they leave all their service weapons inside their desks.

_**08mins remaining**_

Chin peered over Noshimuri's shoulder. "It's up to twenty bids."

"Yes, it would appear that the groups in Yemen and Indonesia want to win this very badly," Noshimuri commented dryly. "Makes you wonder if this is about intel or if it's personal."

"It doesn't matter, because they're not going to win," Danny threatened.

"Five point six million is a lot of money, Detective Williams," Noshimuri reminded him again.

_**02mins:11 seconds remaining**_

Six million. Yemen seemed to bow out once it hit that mark.

Noshimuri poised his fingers above the keyboard, his eyes darting from the auction to the countdown clock in the corner. "It's all about timing," he muttered.

At the one-minute mark, the bid went up to six point three million.

Noshimuri grinned. "That's what I was waiting for."

His fingers hovered, but he still didn't hit a single key. Danny held his breath while Kono and Chin crowed tighter around Noshimuri's chair. Catherine waited anxiously a few steps away.

"You do see that there's only forty seconds left?" Danny blurted.

"Uh-huh," Noshimuri said.

Then, with ten seconds left, he placed his bid. Seven million.

The auction ended three seconds later.

Noshimuri sank into his chair with a smug smile. "Looks like I won."

* * *

It was a fleeting moment, several seconds where he could breathe again, where anxiety loosened its vise grip around his chest. But Danny took it and allowed himself to bask in those seconds of relief, his head dizzy with it. Then one minute became two, then three, his body thrumming with new bouts of adrenaline.

Chin studied the laptop screen with Noshimuri, his whole body strung tighter than a bow. "You got a new e-mail."

"I see it," Noshimuri said.

Danny tried standing with Kono and Catherine so as not to suck up all the oxygen by the computer. That didn't stop him from backseat driving. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

Noshimuri didn't look up as he spoke. "It's confirmation of the bid. I'll get another e-mail with instructions for the exchange once they verify I have the proper funds available."

"Can you really come up with seven million in cash?" Kono asked.

"Yes, but all I needed to do was show them that I have access to it. I have no plans to withdraw that much money." Noshimuri folded his hands on the table. "Your unit has used subterfuge in the past. Now I am eager to hear all about your plan for the exchange."

"There will be no exchange," Agent Khalid announced from the doorway. "Because as soon as you get a location from Maslov, I'm sending in SEAL Team Four to finish this."

Danny had never jumped out of an airplane before, but right now, he thought he understood the terror of free falling. He was so furious, so pissed off, he'd lost the ability to speak.

Thankfully, Kono took in the impending chaos and escorted Toast, Catherine, and Noshimuri out of the office, whispering in Danny's ear that she'd keep Noshimuri under guard.

Danny and Chin exchanged looks of anger. Danny clenched his fists to help keep his temper from exploding.

Khalid had changed into another bespoke suit, a light pearl gray with a salmon colored shirt and another matching pocket square. This was just another day at the office for him.

"Where have you been?" Chin demanded.

"I told you. I had to update my team."

"That was last night," Danny reminded him. "What happened to staying in touch?"

"I don't know. What happened to keeping me apprised of your little sting here?"

Danny blinked in surprise, then put two and two together. "You bugged the place, didn't you?"

"I did," Khalid admitted. "I'm sorry. But do you really think the NSA would accept being kept in the dark? That we would allow you to keep the only viable link to Maslov in this office? None of that matters now," he dismissed, loosening his tie. "We need to focus on rescuing Commander McGarrett. When you get a location for the exchange, we'll send in the SEAL team."

"No!" Danny blurted. "No, you won't."

"Excuse me?"

"We already got the ball rolling," Danny said. "We've got an inside guy willing to do the exchange."

"Your team is excellent," Khalid sighed. "You guys have executed several complex stings before, but there's only three of you. And let's face it, without Commander McGarrett, you lack the military expertise to pull off one now." Khalid squinted at the laptop. "Looks like Mr. Noshimuri has a new e-mail."

Danny and Chin went over and read over Khalid's shoulders. The instructions were succinct and to the point.

"Sonofabitch," Danny snapped, banging his hand on the table. "Isn't Kahuku Airfield nearby?"

Khalid rubbed a hand wearily over his tanned face. "He's been right under our noses the entire time."

"I thought that was under military control?" Chin asked.

"Hey, over here." Danny snapped his fingers. "Where is it exactly?"

"It's an airfield on the northern tip of Oahu," Chin explained. "It's gone from civilian to military hands over and over the last sixty years. It returned to the Air Force recently, but it was closed down after budget cuts a few years ago."

"Which means none of us checked it," Danny groaned.

"No, we didn't," Khalid growled, angrily fussing with the hair in his face.

"I checked out this area for a previous case," Chin said. "It just went up for sale within the last few months, but technically it's still considered military property."

"_Abandoned_ military property," Danny pointed out. "So, we're talking about what? A small base?"

"Complete with views in all directions and easy access for a helicopter or a small plane for escape," Khalid said as he paced in thought.

"All the more reason for us to–"

"What do you think SEAL teams do?" Khalid spun around at Danny. "This is a textbook rescue operation."

"And what if something goes wrong?" Danny yelled back, because nothing about this was freaking textbook. "Maslov strikes me as the human shield type and we all know he's the true target."

"Danny, please," Khalid sighed.

"And if he escapes?" Danny snapped, his face flushed. "Don't tell me if Maslov goes up in a plane, you guys won't shoot it down and everyone else becomes collateral damage."

"There's not a single SEAL out there who wouldn't do whatever it takes to avoid killing one of their own," Khalid hissed, equally frustrated.

"Is that why SEAL Team Nine isn't available for the mission?" Danny watched Khalid's left eye twitch. "Steve's not the number one objective, is he?" Khalid opened his mouth, but Danny couldn't hold things back any longer. "I know about the kill order."

Khalid fiddled with his Rolex and Danny knew he had him. It was now or nothing. Steve's life was in his hands.

"I know those orders came down above your head. I know you have a job to do to protect this country – that there's a bigger picture. But what's that worth if we're willing to throw away another life in the process? Someone who's helped take out dozens of bad guys. Who's followed every order given to him? Doesn't he deserve the utmost effort in saving him?"

"Danny, you don't understand."

"Then make me," Danny beseeched, his voice breaking. "You said you volunteered, that you wanted to help Steve. Then help me help him. Let us bring him home and the SEAL team can do whatever it takes to get Maslov."

"Do you know what you're asking?" Khalid whispered.

"All I'm asking is to let us get Steve out and then send in the SEAL team. For the first time ever, you'll know exactly where Maslov will be. If he makes it to a jeep or plane, blow it away. But let us rescue McGarrett first."

Khalid looked away. "I–"

"Please, Yasir," Danny begged, actually begged. "We can do this together."

"Like we did when we were kids, huh?" Khalid sighed. "Okay. You have five minutes to spell out your plan, because we have less than three hours before the meet."

"Good," Danny said, a giant weight lifting from his shoulders. He released a tired breath and wiped at his eyes, feeling rejuvenated. "Then fire up your spy satellite."

* * *

It felt like déjà vu as they stood around one of the giant plasma screens. The images were clear enough to distinguish the walls and doors, revealing a dozen human heat signatures. Three people patrolled the outer perimeter and the rest milled around inside the small compound.

"If I were a betting man, I'd say this is where they're holding McGarrett," Chin said, pointing at a room in the rear.

There was a lone, unmoving figure in the middle of the room with two people stationed outside the door.

Danny nodded, trying to lock down his emotions. "If they're keeping Steve drugged, two guards would probably be enough."

"Everyone else is moving about the other rooms," Kono interjected.

But Khalid wasn't impressed; he checked his Rolex. "You guys have two minutes."

"This is an image of the area," Catherine said, pulling up a live feed.

"Do I want to know how you gained access to the Navy's Pacific recon satellite?" Khalid asked.

"No." Catherine zoomed in on the building. "Okay, most of southern end of the base is overrun by jungle. That's your best approach to the compound."

"It's our _only_ one," Chin added.

Danny studied the layout, tried to break down a rescue plan into its simplest components. "Okay. We'll use the meet as a distraction. Maslov's not going to hand over a guy trained to kill people with his bare hands, so he'll keep Steve sedated. Which means Steve will stay put until the money is handed over."

Chin moved around the table toward the plasma. "Maslov won't take any chances; he'll keep Steve under guard and use the brunt of his men as security."

"That only leaves a few others to deal with," Danny said. "We'll go in right before the transaction is made."

Khalid shook his head in doubt. "The kind of timing you're depending on–"

"Can be done," Catherine interrupted. "I've facilitated such missions before."

_"Special ops missions,"_ Khalid reminded her. "And what makes anyone think the head of the Yakuza would agree to be smack dab in the middle of this? I don't see Mr. Noshimuri agreeing to be the only thing standing between Maslov and an advancing SEAL team."

"He won't," Danny said and tapped his finger on Catherine's satellite image. "The road that leads to the hangar is what? A mile, two miles long? What if his vehicle were to have a flat tire? Or car trouble? Forcing Maslov and his goons out of the hangar."

Catherine smiled. "A sniper could take out the tire. Make it look like an accident."

Danny pointed at her. "Exactly. Serving Maslov up on a silver platter for the SEALS to nab right in the open. All that's missing is a target painted on his forehead."

"And if Maslov smells a trap?" Khalid pressed.

"We'll have Steve secured by then," Danny argued.

Khalid didn't seem sold. "There are too many what-ifs."

"We'll have precision on our side," Catherine insisted. Gone was her exhaustion. "I can feed them live intel from here just like I do in Naval Intelligence. I'll direct them where to go, what to avoid, and where every target is in the compound."

Khalid was wavering. Danny could see it in the way he focused on the map.

"If something does go wrong, you can still send in your people," Danny reasoned.

"How long would it take for them to deploy after your signal?" Kono asked.

"I'm not sure," Khalid said.

"Four minutes," Catherine replied. "Based on experience, the SEAL Team will come via helo. Probably from three miles out right about there," she pointed at the map. "If the helo is on standby, then you're talking one minute for take off. Two minutes in the air and one minute for the team to rappel down."

"Wouldn't that make them a moving target?" Kono asked in alarm.

"Trust me, they've deployed in far worse circumstances," Catherine reassured the group. "They have ways to immobilize the enemy from the air before boots hit the ground."

The whole team waited on Khalid to respond, but Danny applied more pressure.

"Maslov's arrogant. He's kept off the radar, flaunted his power, and grabbed Steve right out of Five-0 headquarters. He thinks we're chasing our tails, but we have the element of surprise." Danny looked Khalid right in the eye. "Let us do this. It'll allow the SEALs to focus on their true objective."

Khalid looked from both sets of satellite imagery to the faces in front of him. "What about equipment? We don't have time to assemble the type of gear you'll need."

Chin cracked a smile. "Oh, don't worry. We have that covered."

* * *

Five-0 didn't have an armory like any other police precinct. Unless, of course, it was supplied by a guns and ammo loving, paranoid lunatic. Danny entered in the code to the large storage locker and opened the door. He gazed at the arsenal with a frown, thinking how ridiculous and over-the-top it was – just like a certain SEAL.

Khalid stared, owl-like. "That's...um...impressive."

"Everything needed to stage an invasion of Oahu," Chin smirked.

"Or a rescue mission," Kono added.

Danny grabbed a M5 submachine gun. "Want one?" he asked Chin.

"Yep, and that Benelli shotgun."

"I'll take the M4." Kono shouldered the sniper rifle. "And this," she said, snagging another assault rifle.

"And what's a mission without grenades?" Danny snorted, turning his head to mock Steve and stopping short.

Khalid took a deep breath. "All right. We'll coordinate this together. You guys go in and get McGarrett. We'll take Maslov."

They'd been finally given the green light. It took three minutes to load themselves with enough gear for a small army. Danny smiled at the fact that they were ripping a page out of McGarrett's handbook. Steve would be proud.


	4. Chapter 4

Adam Noshimuri stood outside, waiting by an SUV, surrounded by his entourage. Danny had changed into a black t-shirt, a rifle hung over his shoulder, so yeah, he felt extra intimidating and walked up and stood toe to toe with Noshimuri. The responsibility hefted on his shoulders fueled his adrenaline.

"Don't do any funny stuff. You wait on the main road by the six mile marker until you're given the signal."

"I'm well aware of the plan. Wait until given the order, go the speed limit to give your team time. Once I hit the side road leading to the airfield, I'll be visible from the hangar for two miles."

"At a mile out, the sniper will take out your tire," Danny reminded him. "Have your minions try to fix it. It's all about stalling. Hopefully, Maslov will take the bait and exit the hangar to meet with you and give us enough time to find McGarrett before they grab him for the exchange."

"And once I lure Maslov out of his hole, the SEAL Team will swoop in and snatch their man." Noshimuri tilted his head. "Not sure if I like being that close to a fire-fight."

"You won't. You're not the target and Maslov will be too busy running in the other direction. Just keep your head down and stay out of the way." This time, it was Danny's turn to smile like a vulture. "But just in case – does the bulletproof vest fit all right? Not too tight?"

"It's fine. Must be a new type – very thin. You can't even tell I'm wearing it unless you're looking." Noshimuri adjusted his shirt collar. "Can I keep it when this is all over?"

"Sure. Because if you do anything, anything at all to screw this up, you'll need more than a vest. Capiche?"

Noshimuri slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses. "Wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

Police training included the _use_ of assault rifles, but since week one, Steve had the team undergo monthly drills, ingraining complete familiarity with the weapons. Danny used to complain about them and Steve would stare at him all stone faced until Danny returned to the firing range, grumbling under his breath. Never again. He adjusted his tac vest as they crept closer to their destination.

Chin and Kono walked beside him just as dangerously strapped, the two of them like modern-day Rambos. The sun had set and they blended into the evening darkness.

When he was within a few hundred meters of the rear of the building, Danny dropped and crawled on his belly through the wet, thinning grass, flicking away tiny rocks that dug into his elbows. It'd drizzled earlier and Danny's arms and legs were covered in slime. It was disgusting. He glared at Chin beside him, who shook his head at him. Danny bet Steve actually loved crawling around in the muck like a pig in camo.

_"Freeze,"_ Catherine instructed over the com.

Danny held up a fist.

_"All bogies are still inside. Noshimuri is in position and will proceed on my mark. When I give the signal, make your way to the rear exit."_

"Copy that," Danny whispered.

_"Once you're inside, go to radio silence. I'll hear everything within several feet of your position. There are three bogies with the package: two inside the room, one outside."_

"Copy that," Danny said with a grimace. He hated referring to Steve as the package, but those were the terms Catherine used.

_"A two-man patrol is making its way toward the rear of the building. When they leave, you'll have a seven minute window before they return."_

Danny gripped the rifle in his hand. "Got it."

Kono's shoulder brushed against his as she crouched beside him. Danny nodded at Chin who readied his weapon.

_"On my mark,"_ Catherine said. _"Three, two, one. Now!"_

It was a thirty-second mad dash across a snarl of overgrown grass. Danny nearly tripped over a divot and Chin grabbed his elbow as they sprinted toward the metal door.

Kono quickly punched in a code given to them by Khalid. Danny and Chin covered her until the door beeped. Danny nudged it open with his foot and Chin aimed his shotgun and went in first, Kono and Danny taking up the rear.

_"You're clear,"_ Catherine instructed_. "The other seven bogies are inside the hangar. The two-man patrol hasn't deviated from their route. You have seven to nine minutes before they return."_

All of them had studied the layout. Emergency lighting cast dim shadows and it took a few moments for Danny's eyes to adjust to the darkness. Down ten meters, turn right. No stopping. The hallway went on forever, the air thick with a musty odor.

His heart beat like a war drum in his ears and Danny tried to quiet his heavy breathing.

_"Six minutes,"_ Catherine warned over the radio_. "You're making good time. Your next left is coming up...now."_

Danny would have run right by it. He took the turn, forcing himself to slow and go cautiously down the short corridor.

"_After twenty meters, take the next right. Your target will be ten meters away. There's still one bogie outside the room, two with the package."_

Danny hugged the wall as he approached the corner. Chin and Kono crowded behind him, waiting on his signal. Danny quickly wiped his sweaty palms over his pants before pulling out a taser gun, allowing his rifle to hang at his side.

He held up three fingers, ticking them down to zero. Danny rounded the corner, squeezed the trigger, and sent two electrodes into the guard's chest. Kono swooped over at the same time, covering Danny as the guard slumped to the ground, his body convulsing from fifty thousand volts.

Disengaging the taser, Chin quickly grabbed the guard's ankles and dragged him around the corner. Then he knocked the guy out with a punch to the face, gagging and tying him up with zip-ties.

_"That's far enough,"_ Catherine told him. _"The patrol never goes down that way."_

Danny aimed his rifle at the door and waited for Chin to take Danny's right side while Kono remained on his left.

_"Both bogies are at the north end of the room,"_ Catherine informed them. _"They're only a few feet away from Steve."_

Steve. Not the package. Danny swallowed, trying to quell the adrenaline causing his hands to shake. He nodded at Chin who pulled out a flash-bang. Surprise and incapacitate; that was the goal. Kono punched in the code, Danny jerked open the door, and Chin lobbed in the stun grenade. Danny looked away as the room exploded in light and sound.

As they went in, a guard blindly stumbled right into Danny and he bashed him in the skull with the butt of his weapon, crumpling the guy in a heap. Danny looked up just as Chin smashed the other guard in the jaw with his rifle, knocking him off his feet. Kono swept in, covering them while Danny and Chin disarmed both unconscious men.

Danny finished securing one of the guards as he glanced over at Steve laying prone on the metal bed frame, his ankles and wrists restrained.

Breathing hard, Danny quickly surveyed the tiny room, his nostrils flaring at the sour, putrid smell. Kono inched closer to the bed frame, her expression anxious even in the low light.

Danny could hear his partner's ragged breathing and carefully approached the bed, trying to clamp down the anger swelling inside at seeing his friend's state. Steve was unshaven and his face peppered with bruises, his clothes streaked with dirt and dried sweat stains. Steve stank of urine and he'd probably never been allowed away from the horrible bed frame.

It took everything in Danny to keep his voice steady. "Steve? You with us?"

The whole bed frame creaked as Steve snapped his head at Danny's voice, yanking his wrists against the cuffs.

"Hey, hey," Danny spoke softly. "Take it easy, we're going to get you out of here."

Steve made a low, throaty growl and started thrashing even more.

Alarmed, Danny bent over and rested a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Shhh, it's okay." Steve's eyes flew open, his breath hitching in rapid gasps. "Come on," Danny pleaded. "I know you can hear me, partner. You've got to calm down.

"We need keys to these cuffs," he shouted.

"On it," Kono and Chin answered simultaneously.

_"Danny,"_ Catherine radioed. _"I think Maslov took the bait; all other bogies are exiting the hangar."_

"Copy that," Danny answered.

Steve continued whipping his wrists and Danny's own heart sped up. He gently pressed his hands on Steve's shoulder to calm him and bit his lip at the heat emanating beneath his palms. "I know you're feeling really messed up right now, but we're going to get you out of those things. Promise."

"I've got the keys," Chin said, but hesitated.

"Come on," Danny snapped, flapping his fingers.

"Be careful, brah. Steve's not with it right now," Chin warned, handing over the keys.

Danny nodded. "I know, but we don't have a choice."

_"You have four minutes before the patrol makes their way back over there,"_ Catherine warned.

"Not helpful," Danny muttered.

He was sick and tired of a ticking clock hanging over him.

Danny carefully bent over Steve. "Just in case you forgot, it's me. Danny. Your partner. Chin and Kono are right behind me and we're here to help. So, please try not to headbutt me or anything."

Steve's chest still heaved up and down like he was running a marathon.

The keys shook in Danny's hand before he found the lock. He released the first cuff, revealing several inflamed lacerations around Steve's wrist. He tried ignoring it, tried not to think of Steve's obvious failed escape attempts. Then he noticed Steve's badly deformed thumb and Steve's sheer desperation hit Danny like a ton of bricks. That Steve had managed to free himself only to be chained back up like an animal.

Danny sucked in a breath. "Almost there, partner," he mumbled. "Please don't punch me. I still have the left one to go."

Steve went stock-still and that scared the living crap out of Danny, like waiting on the cobra to strike. "I'm going to unlock the left wrist now. Nod if you understand me, because I really don't feel like getting punched in the face for my trouble."

Danny glanced over at Steve and watched his friend for any sign of coherence or impending attack, but Steve's normally vibrant eyes were glazed over. Danny fumbled, released the second cuff, noticing that Steve's _other_ thumb was also badly swollen. Christ. Steve had dislocated both of them at one point to escape.

Steve's arms flopped down at his sides when both wrists were freed, but he still didn't move.

Kono moved behind him. "I found the other keys; I'll get his ankles."

"Yeah," Danny said. "But be careful."

Kono nodded and spoke out loud while she worked. "Boss, I'm grabbing your leg for a second. I'll get you up and moving in no time." She looked down at Steve's foot, then back at Danny with worry. "His right ankle is really thrashed. I think it might be busted or dislocated."

Damn. Steve had done a number on himself trying to get free. That meant he wouldn't be able to put any weight on it. Then again, Steve wasn't really ambulatory to begin with. Danny breathed deeply and tried to forget the images of Steve's uncharacteristic terror from the video.

"Boss, your ankle is really swollen and the metal has dug deeply into it. Just give me a second...there. Got it," she said, releasing it.

Chin kept one eye on the door and the other on their progress, his focus unwavering. Danny secretly loved him for not yelling at them to hurry up.

Danny watched as Kono uncuffed Steve's left ankle. The moment it was released, Steve bolted off the bed, ramming his full shoulder into Danny and knocking them both down. Steve loomed over Danny and pressed his forearm into Danny's throat. Shocked, Danny gasped for air, digging his fingers into Steve's arm, praying neither of them would injure the other.

Danny dug his knee into Steve's abdomen and pushed with all his might as Chin and Kono yanked Steve by his shoulders. Their collective momentum sent Chin and Kono sprawling onto their backs.

Steve rolled and vaulted to his feet, but fell over in a lurch as he tried to escape. He never stopped moving, skittering across the floor on his hands and knees only to collapse a few feet away. He scooted until he sat up against the wall, wild-eyed and ready to fight.

_"ETA on the patrol is one minute,"_ Catherine said.

Fuck. For a second Danny had forgotten about guards and roaming bad guys. They didn't have time for this if they were all going to get out of here alive.

"Steve! Please," Danny coughed and sputtered, his voice ragged from his bruised larynx. "I know you must be hearing and seeing a ton of crazy shit, but you know my voice. Do you hear me? Please, please, just listen. Focus, okay?"

Danny approached Steve with his palms up. "I'm coming over. And when I reach you, we have to get ready to leave. You understand?" Both of Steve's hands were clenched into fists despite their injuries, but Danny kept inching closer, kept talking, slow and soft. "Grace is safe, by the way. All the kids are, thanks to you. So, you've got to take it easy because you're not going to miss my daughter's birthday, are you?"

Steve squinted in Danny's direction. "D?"

"Yeah, buddy. It's me," Danny rasped, creeping closer until he knelt beside Steve. "It's good to see you."

"Danny?" Steve repeated, his voice dry and broken. He reached out with a trembling hand. "I...please, Danny. I...can't..."

Danny carefully took Steve's arm above the wrist. "Hey. It's going to be fine. Understand? But we need your help getting out of here."

Steve dug his fingers into Danny's forearm until it hurt. Danny placed two fingers on Steve's wrist, felt the frightening hummingbird-like pulse under them. God, it was amazing Steve hadn't suffered a stroke.

_"Danny! I just picked up on radio communication from the patrol. They're reporting a security breech to Maslov."_ Catherine said, voice calm but urgent.

"What? How?" Danny snapped.

_"They must have been on communication silence. I think they spotted the missing guard. The patrol has retreated to the far end of the hallway_."

Shit.

_"Maslov and his security are retreating back into the hangar!"_

Damn, damn, damn, damn!

_"Danny. You've got to pull back now_!" Catherine warned.

"Got it!"

Danny turned his attention to Steve. "You ready? We've got to do your favorite thing and run." Steve bobbled his head and that had to be enough. "Okay, on your feet!"

Pulling an arm across his shoulders, Danny hauled Steve upright and took almost all of his weight when Steve's knees gave out.

"I see how it is. I'm a human taxi now, huh?" Danny wrapped an arm around Steve's waist and anchored him close. He could practically hear the man's heart try to explode. "Do you think you can put any weight on that ankle?" Danny asked. "Steve? Can you hobble?"

"Can't...can't feel anything at all," Steve slurred.

Not good, not good, Danny thought, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise. He nodded at Chin. "We're ready."

_"Both targets are at the east end of the hallway,"_ Catherine instructed.

Kono moved toward the door, curled her fingers around the doorknob while Chin aimed his weapon.

Suddenly the whole building shook and Danny nearly dropped Steve as they both almost fell down. A roar rumbled throughout the room, the sound of explosions vibrating through the walls and flickering the lights.

"What the hell was that?" Chin demanded.

_"Hold on,"_ Catherine's voice was frantic_. "Several bombs just went off. I–"_

The whole place shook again and Danny held Steve tighter to his side.

_"We've got multiple explosions. The heat's distorting all of my imagery." _

"Can you give us anything?" Chin asked.

_"The first explosion took out the rear exit,"_ Catherine told them. _"The whole hallway is gone. I'm trying to find another route out."_

Chin pressed the com further in his ear. "What about the second explosion?"

_"It was massive. I can't get anything from the area, but I think it took out the hangar."_

"What happened with the meeting with Noshimuri?" Chin asked.

_"Maslov bolted when security alerted him of the breach. Noshimuri's back in his car and turning around." _

"Oh good, at least he's safe," Danny snorted.

Kono paced in a short circuit. "What about the SEAL team?"

_"They've been deployed. ETA four minutes but I don't know how long it'll take them to find a way inside,"_ Catherine warned_. "I found another exit by the far west end, but it's almost halfway through the building. I can guide you out, but I can't pinpoint the bogies with all this thermal energy."_

"Just show us the way, we'll do the rest," Chin ordered. "Catherine, I'm taking point. Danny's busy with McGarrett."

_"Copy that,"_ she replied.

Kono opened the door with one hand and threw a stun grenade with the other. Chin waited three beats and plunged into the hallway, shooting several bursts from his shotgun. Kono followed after him with suppression fire. In seconds, the sounds of automatic weapons died away.

"We're clear!" Kono shouted.

Danny dragged Steve along, his friend's ragged breathing ghosting against Danny's ear. They followed Kono and Chin down the corridor in a crazy half-stumble. Steve's long limbs and heavy, wavering gait made it tough corralling him.

Steve tried straightening up, but ended up leaning heavier on Danny, his overheated face brushing against Danny's neck.

"Come on, that's good, just stay on your feet," Danny coaxed as he waited for Kono's signal.

Chin held up his hand and the four of them paused. "Catherine, any new intel?"

_"The heat from the fire in that area is obscuring my readings, but it's starting to clear up."_

"What about the SEAL team?" Chin pressed for more info.

_"On the premises, but I can't get a read on them." _

Danny waited back a meter as Kono and Chin cleared the next turn. Maneuvering was clumsy with two people and Steve didn't move fast enough, smacking the side of his head against the corner.

"That was a wall, Steven," Danny hissed. "If you can, please try avoiding further brain damage."

"Everything's...blurry," Steve panted.

He couldn't see?

Danny curled his fingers around one of Steve's belt loops. "That would have been helpful intel," he growled.

His anger with this whole fucked up mess felt like a white-hot ball of fury, burning and simmering under the surface. He used it to shuffle them down each hall. Used it to keep Steve propped up as he grew heavier and more uncoordinated. And he used it to keep his mind blank, keep it focused on getting the hell out, and not what his instincts, his cop instincts were screaming about Steve's worsening condition.

"You still with me, babe?"

But he only heard Steve's huffs for air.

Kono and Chin worked in synch, clearing their path through the building as Danny followed, practically carrying Steve. Down ten meters. Then a left. Another thirty meters and a right. The building had too many freaking hallways. How long had they been inside? How long before...

"_I'm picking up four bogies coming toward you!"_ Catherine's voice sounded in all their ears.

There was another turn up ahead, and Chin and Kono each took one side of the wall and waited for their targets to come into view. Danny felt completely vulnerable without a weapon, but his hands were full.

_"There are two more bogies making their way from the other end of the hall_," Catherine warned.

They were being outflanked.

Danny unloaded Steve onto the ground. "Sorry," he whispered, readying his weapon and standing over him.

He turned around to face the men sneaking up behind them, but a small clanking sound and a familiar looking canister rolled by Danny's feet, followed by a second one near Chin and Kono.

All thee of them shouted at the same time. "Stun gre–"

Danny closed his eyes before the hall filled with light, but he couldn't cover his ears in time as they exploded in pulse-pounding pain. He lost his balance and fell onto his hands and knees, trying not to throw up while voices yelled and screamed all around him.

After his vision cleared, Danny looked up and right into the barrel of a rifle, his M4 swinging uselessly from its tether.

"Don't move," a guttural voice told him.

Danny flicked his eyes at Chin and Kono who held up their hands as they faced several armed goons.

"Disarm them," a familiar voice instructed. The same voice from the video feeds. "If one of them tries anything, kill the others."

Ivan Maslov strutted into view, dressed head to toe in a black suit.

Danny was stripped of his M4 and hands roughly lifted him up, patted him down, removing his grenades and backup. He kept telling himself stall, stall, stall. Catherine could hear everything.

Ivan snapped his fingers. "Everyone over by the wall."

Chin and Kono complied, alert and ready to take action at the first opportunity. Danny stood his ground, refusing to move away from where Steve lay sprawled on his back, exposed and vulnerable.

Seeing his larger-than-life partner like that frightened the shit out of him.

"What the hell did have you been giving him?" Danny demanded.

Maslov pulled a crinkled pack of smokes from his pants pocket, took out a cigarette, and lit it. "My own recipe. A little of this. A little of that. Effective, don't you think?"

"Effective at what?" Danny snarled, wanting to punch the guy's lights out. "Wow, you're so big and scary, drugging the shit out of someone and tying him down. That's not cowardly at all. I thought you were supposed to be some big shot. Why didn't you just lock him up or slip him a few Xanax?"

"Sedation is – what can I say? Simple." Maslov blew a clove-scented puff of smoke. "To exert control over one's enemy, you must take theirs away."

Danny's whole body shook. "More stupid quotes? Do you know how many of those I've heard in the last few days?"

Maslov glared at him, undoubtedly unused to being screamed at. "I ordered you to stand over there with your friends."

"I don't follow your orders," Danny spat.

Maslov stormed over with a pompous sneer, his fake accent slipping. "Who do you think you are?"

_"SEAL Team Four's ETA is three minutes. Stall them,"_ Catherine whispered in Danny's ear.

"Detective Danny Williams. Five-0," Danny said, standing tall.

The left side of Maslov's face twitched. "Detective Williams, no one steals from me."

Maslov pulled out a Glock, aiming at the center of Danny's forehead.

"We just did," Chin snorted, his voice loud and smug. "And right from under your nose."

Maslov's steel eyes turned murderous as he swung his weapon in Chin's direction.

"A SEAL team is on its way," Danny blurted. "In fact, they're storming the building as we speak."

"You're lying!" Maslov growled, returning his focus back on Danny.

"Do you think it's just the three of us? Seriously? I mean, yeah, it was really easy breaking in and taking out your excuse for security. But what about our backup?" Danny watched self-doubt flicker in Maslov's eyes. "Don't you think this is all just part of the plan? Well, except for the whole timing thing. We screwed that up."

Maslov curled his fingers around the Glock, his cool fading. "You lie."

"Really?" Danny chuckled, trying to goad the man. "Then wait six more minutes."

He watched Kono and Chin out of the corner of his eye, knew they heard Catherine's intel. This was a chess game. Always had been.

A fine scar ran down along Maslov's chin, emphasizing his clenched jaw. "I'll call your bluff."

Maslov jerked his head and one of his goons grabbed Danny by the shoulder and shoved him hard against the wall, a meaty hand firmly holding him in place. The guy reeked of bourbon.

Maslov stomped toward Steve, the cigarette dangling from his lips, and yanked him up by the front of his t-shirt. Steve was boneless, his head lolling onto his chest, Maslov's grip the only thing holding him up.

Maslov pressed the barrel of his Glock into Steve's temple. "If I can't have my seven million dollar asset, then no one can."

Before Danny could shout, Steve's eyes flew open and he grabbed Maslov's wrist and snapped it at a sharp angle. Maslov screamed in surprise, dropping his gun. Using Maslov's falling momentum, Steve jerked Maslov toward the ground, rolling them both up like a pretzel in some crazy move. Steve slipped his hands around Maslov's head and twisted, breaking his neck in one fluid motion.

Maslov slumped against Steve's body, both men unmoving. Danny shoved the goon out of the way, the guard too shocked to react.

Danny went to his knees and pressed finger to Maslov's throat. "He's dead," he announced, pushing the asshole off Steve's chest – a chest much slower to rise and fall than before. "Come on. What was that? Some last hurrah?"

Danny felt for a pulse, finding a sluggish, weak beat beneath his finger, while the rest of the Maslov's people looked on like rubberneckers at a car crash.

"I wasn't lying. Our backup is here," Danny snapped. The idiots looked at each other in confusion. "Your boss is dead. I suggest losing your weapons before a group of really pissed of SEALs discovers one of their own like this."

Taking advantage of the chaos, Kono grabbed the weapon from the nearest guard and cocked him over the head with it. Startled and too stupid to react, Chin easily disarmed one of his while the other three guards stared wide-eyed.

"Get outta here!" Chin yelled at them. "Or do you want to a one-way ticket to Gitmo?"

Danny watched as the three thugs looked at each other and quickly took down the darkened corridor, leaving their two buddies behind.

Danny patted Steve's clammy cheek, terrified at his graying pallor. "Steve! Come on, wake up!"

"Danny?" Kono's worried voice drifted over. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know!" Danny yelled. But his gut did; he'd worked in the Narcotics unit for a year. "His pulse is dropping. His breathing is real shallow. There's no telling what combination of drugs were used. I think they mixed-up uppers and downers and that could give him a freaking heart attack."

"What did they use on McGarrett?" Chin demanded of one of Maslov's men. When neither of them answered, Chin grabbed the one nearest by the shoulder and shoved his Sig in his face. "Don't stonewall me."

"I don't know! I wasn't the one guarding him!" the guy insisted.

"How often between injections?" Danny yelled. "Six, eight hours?"

The heavyset guard huffed. "After he broke Viktor's wrist and Oleg's nose trying to escape? They gave the asshole a dose whenever he caused trouble. And he caused a lot of trouble."

_Snap._

Danny lunged to his feet and backhanded the guy across the face. "When was the last dose?" The guard didn't answer and Danny rammed his fist into his mouth, popping his knuckles. "When!" he seethed.

"Enough, brah, come on," Chin whispered in Danny's ear, pulling him away.

Danny fought, jerking out of Chin's grasp, rearing his fist back. "Tell me," he panted out of breath.

"Right before the exchange," the guard yelled, spittle flying from his swollen lips. "Ivan wanted the guy out of it."

Catherine's voice suddenly came over his earwig. _"The SEAL team should be right–"_

Her voice was cut off by the sudden sound of people busting into the hallway from both directions.

"Everyone freeze!" voices shouted, joined by a chorus of, "Drop your weapons!"

Chin and Kono lowered their rifles. "We're Five-0," Kono told them.

The SEAL team swarmed inside and didn't take any chances. They removed everyone's weapons – the guards, Chin and Kono's – and forced them all to face the wall.

Danny saw three assault rifles pointed in his direction and he held up his hands. "I am Detective Danny Williams, Five-0. The dead body to your right is your first target, Ivan Maslov. He was killed by your second target, Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, Navy SEAL."

Danny allowed himself to be manhandled out of the way, obeying without a word, not wanting to put anyone at risk.

The burly SEAL in front of him was indistinguishable from the others. All six were dressed in full camo gear, their faces obscured by black visors and cloth masks.

The leader checked Maslov for a pulse and shook his head. "Chief, prepare to move this body out for identification. Shark, take squad two, search for and gather all intelligence and any remaining hostiles." The leader moved toward Steve, checked his pulse, and pressed an ear to his chest. "Griffon, Commander McGarrett needs immediate medical attention."

Thank God, they'd been briefed about Steve.

"Our badges are in our pockets," Danny started to say.

"We're well aware of who you are, Detective," the SEAL said. "But for right now, do what I say, when I say it."

"Okay. That's fine," Danny accepted. "What do I call you?"

"LT."

"Okay. Good. LT. I'm cooperating, but this is my partner, and I would really like to remain where I am, please. I'll stay out of the way."

"Don't budge from this spot," LT ordered him.

Danny watched as the corpsman knelt down next to Steve and unshouldered a black canvas medical bag. The guy pulled away his face gear, revealing his dark skin. He quickly got out a stethoscope, pulled up Steve's dirty t-shirt, and listened to his lungs while he grabbed Steve's wrist.

"Pulse is weak at 48, respiration slow and shallow." He let the stethoscope dangle while he wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Steve's arm.

"We think he was given a combination of something," Danny told the corpsman. "My best guess is a mix of stims and opiates. The stims started to wear off just a few minutes ago. And he's been given several doses really close together over the last three days."

Enough to drop an elephant, Danny thought grimly. Because as soon as that stimulant wore away, the depressant would hit Steve tenfold.

Griffon released the cuff and placed an oxygen mask over Steve's nose and mouth. "BP's hypotensive, 58 over 39 and dropping. He needs to be airlifted immediately, sir."

"All right. You and Dice transport him out of here. Take his team with him." LT pointed a finger at Danny. "Stay close and stay quiet."

Griffon tried inserting an IV several times. "Damn, he's really dehydrated, can't find a vein."

Danny held his breath as the corpsman palpated Steve's hands and arms, shook his head, and finally inserted the needle in the back of Steve's left hand. "Got a flash!" he said, placing the saline bag on Steve's chest.

Two SEALs had assembled a stretcher and quickly moved Steve onto it.

"All right, let's go!" LT shouted.

Danny ran along one side of the stretcher while Chin and Kono took up the rear as they frantically exited the building to board a rescue helo.

* * *

Minutes, hours, they all blurred into buzzing rotor blades, shouting, and squawking radios. Voices morphed from SEALs to emergency room doctors, coalescing into a cloud of white noise.

Danny nodded at Chin and Kono's worried faces. Smiled and made useless small talk that he didn't remember. He might have even fallen asleep in an empty examination bed in the far corner; he couldn't remember. But he eventually found himself in a hard plastic chair in the ICU, counting the black dots in the ceiling.

"I'll have you know that I would prefer sleeping in my own bed. My hotel suite has the best mattress, amazing lumbar support, and the air conditioning? The perfect background noise. Much better than this stupid hissing sound," he said, waving at the ventilator.

Danny watched the machine force Steve's chest to rise and fall.

"The doctors say the tube is temporary, something about respiratory support. I told them that you're part fish, but they didn't value my opinion. Sound familiar?"

His eyes drifted toward the IV, the pulse/ox clip on his index finger, and the wires snaking out from under Steve's hospital gown. "The docs ran some tests and discovered you actually do have a heart somewhere inside there. It's fine, by the way. Now that it's started beating regularly."

He leaned on the bedrail, raking his eyes over Steve's unshaven face, his elevated foot, and the braces cradling his thumbs. Danny cracked a smile. "You're going to be such a pain in the ass about paperwork, aren't you? Not to mention crabby about not being able to fire your weapons. And I give you a day before you ditch your crutches."

But Steve didn't stir.

"We're going to have long talk when you wake up, Steven. About the whole walking out with a mass murderer and not telling anyone anything."

The ventilator continued hissing and Danny's heart spiked hard and fast against his ribcage. He sucked in a breath and wiped angrily at the moisture in his eyes, snaking a hand through the railing, careful of the IV, and resting it on Steve's arm.

"But I won't yell at you until after you wake up. Because Grace really, really wants you to come to her birthday party."

* * *

Danny left the ICU and ran into Catherine in the hallway. "Oh, hey," he said, sheepishly. He'd been in there far longer than the twenty minutes allowed.

"Hey," Catherine greeted back.

She'd changed into a gray Navy t-shirt and jeans and looked far more comfortable than Danny felt. Or maybe exhaustion did that to people.

"He's, um, you know...still asleep."

"Yeah, the docs say they'll take him off the vent in the morning." Catherine stared at the hallway leading to Intensive Care. "The SEAL team discovered vials of methamphetamines and hydromorphone, which I was told was a form of Dilaudid, and that's what they mixed up and used."

"Damn," Danny sighed. No wonder Steve had been so messed up and out of it.

"It makes a sick kind of sense," Catherine said. "The combination of opioids and stimulants would keep Steve somewhat awake if they needed something from him, but unable to fight or escape."

Pure torture for anyone, especially someone like Steve.

"Maslov was a master manipulator," Danny growled. "The only way he could control Steve was to leave him incoherent and confused. Strip away all of his motor skills." His anger swelled. "I'm glad he's dead."

Even he was still amazed that Steve had been able to use one last burst of energy to take out the asshole.

"I don't think everyone is," Catherine smirked. "But I don't care," she said with a pat to his shoulder before leaving him to visit Steve.

* * *

Agent Yasir Khalid puffed on a cigarette outside the hospital, pacing in a circle as he yapped on the phone. When he saw Danny approach, he ended his call and stomped the cigarette out.

"Don't you know that stuff will ruin your clothes?" Danny asked.

"That's what dry cleaners are for," Khalid said, pushing back his floppy hair. "But I only partake in one or two when I'm really stressed."

"And the last few days weren't stressful enough?" Danny snorted. "I take it you guys didn't get what you were hoping for from Maslov's lair?"

"We confiscated several laptops with thousands of gigabytes of data." He shrugged. "It's a starting place."

"But with Maslov dead, you don't know how he was able to break into all those databases?"

"No. We could still have multiple leaks at SOCOM." Khalid's face turned thoughtful. "But Maslov's no longer a threat and that's a victory. I'm glad we got Commander McGarrett back safely."

There was a giant _but_ looming. Danny could feel it. "You still think we shouldn't have been involved in the rescue?"

"Maybe," Khalid hedged. "But not all SEAL ops are successful; you just don't read about them. Obviously, Maslov had the place booby-trapped. Who knows what the end result might have been."

Danny looked up at clear skies then settled his gaze on Khalid's face. "Thank you. I know you took a big risk."

"Who said taking out the bullies of the world was ever easy?" Khalid grinned and pulled out his Ray-Ban sunglasses. "Look, before I leave, there's someone waiting to meet you."

* * *

He didn't know who to expect walking toward his car, but Danny stopped at the edge of the parking lot as a burly guy in cargo pants and olive t-shirt approached him while Khalid hung back.

"Detective Williams, Lieutenant Davidson," the man introduced himself.

"Lieutenant."

"I wanted to meet you on behalf of my team," Davidson said, his shaved head held high.

Danny didn't need to be a cop to know this was the leader of the SEAL team from the hangar. "Meet me? For what?"

"To thank you for your service and tenacity, so that no one on my team had to choose between a mission objective and a brother."

Danny's throat tightened, but before he could say anything, the LT squared his shoulders and jabbed his finger at Khalid. "But you. Don't ever use a SEAL for bait again."

Khalid's face blanched and Danny stared at him slack-jawed, his brain slowly putting the pieces together. Because the one question they never asked was how Maslov knew to target Steve in the first place?

"You sonofabitch," Danny snarled. "You needed a way to flush Maslov out. Were you just behind Steve's leaked file or did you have some cryptic way to whisper the idea of the auction, too?"

Khalid held up his hands. "Let me –"

Danny slugged him in the face, knocking Khalid flat on his ass.

Rolling his neck, Danny nodded at the lieutenant. "I owe you one."

"No, you don't," Davidson said.

With his mission obviously complete, the SEAL walked away.

Danny started toward his car, glancing over his shoulder at Khalid on the ground. "By the way, tell your mom I said hello."

* * *

After a whole night's sleep, Danny returned to the hospital and made his way to Steve's private room, where he found his partner propped up in bed, channel surfing.

"Look at you, guess those goofed-up thumbs can't prevent you from searching for something good on television."

Steve wiggled the braces taped around his thumbs and turned off the TV, dropping the remote in his lap. "What's that saying? Two hundred channels and nothing's on?"

Steve's voice was rough from the vent, but at least he was breathing on his own with the support of a nasal cannula. His hair stuck out in odd directions and he looked tired and worn. It was unnerving seeing him like this and Danny debated telling him about Khalid because Steve deserved to be told the truth for once. The whole team did.

But not right now. Maybe next week, after Grace's birthday, after they all had a chance to breathe.

"You're looking good, babe, got some color back in your cheeks," Danny said, taking a seat in the chair next to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Head's still kind of foggy." Steve pointed at the soft walking cast around his foot. "Got to deal with that for two weeks."

"Better than the alternative."

Steve sat up straighter. "I'm not complaining; I'm just itching to get out of here."

Danny grimaced. Steve had been tied down to a bed for three days. He could only imagine his desire to bolt. "Do you remember any of it?"

Steve looked away, a sure sign he wasn't about to share everything going on inside his head. "Not much after the van pulled up in the parking lot. Just snippets. Mostly sounds. Mainly, it seemed as if I was floating around aimlessly." He curled his fingers into the bed. "Sometimes, it felt like I was trapped inside myself. That no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move. The panic, it was so raw, so..."

"What about killing Maslov?" Danny asked, switching subjects.

Steve shook his head and grimaced at the motion. "It was more like I sensed him in the room. I remember this sickly sweet smell whenever he was around. That's what I associated with him."

"He smoked clove cigarettes," Danny told him. Steve got a faraway look in his eye and Danny wondered what he was thinking. If Steve remembered the scent of his tormentor, maybe he'd instinctively homed in on it the hallway. Danny gave his friend's knee a pat. "Don't worry, you'll be out of here and swimming with the dolphins in no time."

"Thanks to you guys." Steve adjusted his head on the pillow and looked over. "I heard what you did to find me."

"Yeah? Well, it wouldn't be so hard if you didn't do stupid shit."

"Maslov had a bomb – he showed me the detonator."

"And you just decided to trade yourself for the promise he wouldn't squeeze the trigger?"

"I did what I had to do," Steve said, unapologetic.

"The last time I checked there was no_ I_ in team, Steven," Danny growled.

Steve's eyes went dark. "And you've never had to wade through a pile of bodies of women and children, searching for bomb fragments."

"No, I haven't," Danny conceded, voice low, hoping he never would.

"I've witnessed the carnage that Ivan Maslov left behind. Helped dig graves for civilians." Steve grit his teeth. "I wasn't about to let history repeat itself here."

"At Grace's school." Danny swallowed, the terror and guilt bubbling up again. "He used me against you."

Steve squinted against the sunlight streaming in the window. "He used_ innocent_ people against me, Danny. It could have been the hospital Malia works at or Kono's favorite beach."

"True. But it doesn't change who he targeted or which buttons he pushed." Danny got up and closed the curtains. When he turned around, he saw the tension lines around Steve's face ease. Danny sighed. "I'm going to tell you what I told Catherine. Just because you're a SEAL doesn't mean your life should be sacrificed for the greater good."

Steve took a heavy drag on his oxygen. "I don't think that, Danny, but I live my life by a certain code; that's never going to change."

No, it wasn't. Danny knew that. "I'm not asking you to change, you big lug, but even Superman had the Justice League."

"Using comic book analogies?" Steve grinned lazily, but it was obvious his batteries were running low. "That's nice. You and Toast bond over anything else?"

"Hey, we owe that guy a multitude of favors, my friend."

"Speaking of favors, I heard Adam Noshimuri was involved in finding me."

Danny had really hoped to avoid that minefield right now.

"Yes, he was, but I wouldn't put him on your Christmas card list any time soon."

"What did you guys _do?_"

"Nothing," Danny lied, because his partner wasn't the only one good at subterfuge. "It seems that Joe White's shenanigans with Noshimuri's father earned you a ton of honor kudos. But after this week, they're all used up. The two of you can continue your feud when you get back to work."

"Danny."

"Steven."

Steve stared at Danny, studying his face, and he sighed, his eyes drooping. "We'll talk more about the details you're leaving out later. What about our case load?"

"Case load? We've been a little busy searching for you and a certain international terrorist. We've behind. I even had to hand the money laundering thing over to the HPD."

Steve scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'm not done with the algorithm for that," he mumbled.

"What?"

"I need to change one of the co-factors in the coding," Steve said, slowly drifting off. "It's not accurate."

He stared dumbly at Steve as he fell asleep, the big goof inadvertently saving Danny from a few more sleepless nights.

* * *

By the time he got his life in order, met with the governor, and filed some paperwork, another two days had passed. Steve had been discharged early. Thankfully, Catherine and Kono had taken him home.

After Danny got his head on straight, it was time to celebrate Grace's birthday. Rachel's house was filled with balloons, and a dozen of Grace's friends from school ran around, laughing and playing. There were no ponies or clowns, but it still felt like a circus.

Rachel passed him on her way to the den, carrying a tray filled with plastic cups. "Daniel, could you get the door?"

"Why? Does the butler have the day off?"

She rolled her eyes and Danny wandered into the large foyer, surprised to find Catherine and Steve waiting on the front steps. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"The last I checked, it was Gracie's birthday." Steve hobbled inside on a crutch, a pink, gift-wrapped box stuffed against his other side. "I'm going to find the birthday girl," he said, navigating by.

"Should he be up and around?" Danny asked Catherine.

She gave him a knowing smile. "He woke up with a migraine in the middle of the night, but it finally faded. He insisted on coming, said he was tired of lying down."

The doctors had warned of migraines and fatigue for at least a week as Steve recovered. Not to mention the psychological repercussions. Danny grimaced; Steve would be crawling the walls even more than normal.

"Kono and Chin should be here any second," Catherine said, looking out the door. "They were right behind me, but I, um, may have a lead foot when it comes to driving."

"You two really are birds of a feather," Danny laughed.

A familiar squeal of delight came from the other room and Danny took a deep breath. "I better go make sure Steve didn't buy my daughter a mini-sniper rifle."

* * *

He wasn't one for eavesdropping, but when it came to his daughter, Danny couldn't help it. While all her friends were outside batting the crap out of a piñata, Grace sat on the sofa with Steve, completely enamored by her karate outfit.

"The dojo is a very special place. There you'll learn self-discipline and defensive skills with other kids your age." Grace beamed up at Steve. "Do you like it?" he asked.

"I do. Thank you."

Steve smiled down at her, all warm and fond. Grace looked over at Steve's bandaged wrists and her smiled faded, her face growing serious. "Uncle Steve, could I ask you a question?"

Steve's face matched her solemnity. "Sure, sweetheart."

"When the bad man had you...were you scared?" Grace whispered.

Danny almost ran over to break up the conversation, but something about his daughter's voice, that need for some weird form of validation, clutched at Danny's heart.

Steve curled his giant hand around Grace's tiny fingers. "Yeah, I was."

"You were?"

"Of course I was," Steve told her with such sincerity. "But it takes courage to face our fear. And you did that when you were taken. You know that, right?"

Grace nodded her head enthusiastically.

"And that made you a very brave girl."

"I knew Danno would find me. That why I wasn't afraid."

"You know what?" Steve ducked down to whisper in her ear. "I knew your dad would find me, too."

Grace's face lit up. She latched onto Steve and he wrapped his massive arms around her.

Danny's chest swelled in pride and warmth and he wandered over. "Okay, what's with all these hugs? Don't I get any?"

"Of course, daddy!"

Danny bent over and scooped up his daughter in a massive bear hug.

"Did you see what Uncle Steve gave me? I'm going to learn Krav Maga. He said it's going to teach me discipline," Grace squeaked in excitement.

"Discipline? I think that's something Uncle Steve needs to learn more than you," Danny told her.

Grace wiggled out of his arms and snagged her outfit. "I'm going to show mommy."

Danny stared at Steve's contented face as Grave ran out of the room. "If she comes home with a sword, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Krav Maga doesn't use weapons," Steve said with a straight face.

"You!" Danny jabbed a finger at him. "Despite the fact that you're trying to convert my little girl into a ninja, I'm going hug you, too." Danny bent over, giving Steve a squeeze. "I'm happy you're here to celebrate this with my daughter, tough guy."

"So am I," Steve said, squeezing back.

"Hey! There you guys are," Chin said, coming over, both he and Kono sipping beers.

Kono handed Danny one after he disentangled himself.

"Hey, where's mine?" Steve complained from the sofa.

"Sorry, brah. I seriously doubt you're supposed to drink alcohol, but I saw some hugging going on and I can definitely give you one of those."

Kono bent down and squished Steve, who reciprocated with his octopus arms. Chin grinned the biggest grin Danny had seen in a long time and the two of them bumped their bottles together.

"Daddy, it's time to blow out the candles!" Grace yelled from the kitchen.

Steve hobbled up and off the sofa and grabbed his crutches. "Come on, let's sing your daughter a happy birthday."

"Now that's one thing I won't argue with you about," Danny smiled.

Because this was exactly what he'd dreamed of, no three-ring circus or crazy clowns. After a horrible, hellish nightmare of a week, he got to enjoy what he'd fought and sacrificed so hard for. What they _all did_ every single day so they could be surrounded safely with the ones they loved.

* * *

fini-


End file.
